Jedi Padawan, Sith Apprentice
by MiraiMangaka
Summary: "Who are you two supposed to be?" asked Anakin. "I'm Oriana Meinhart," said the elder Jedi. "And I'm Ahsoka Tano," said the younger. "Master Yoda sent us." UNDER RECONSTRUCTION!
1. Battle of Christophsis

_A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..._

Admiral Yularen entered the communication room where Jedi Masters Yoda and Mace Windu were waiting for him. He had just left Christophsis after defeating the Separatist army stationed there to retrieve supplies and reinforcements. He had been trying to get in touch with General Kenobi and Skywalker for several hours and had been hopeful that this transmission had been them.

"We need to make contact with General Kenobi," said Mace as soon as Yularen joined them.

"We've been unable to reach him," said Yularen. "It could be a solar storm, or they're rebooting their communication system. I'm sure the blackout is temporary."

"A couple of messengers, we are sending, with important orders for General Kenobi," said Yoda.

"See to it that they get there as fast as possible," said Mace.

"Yes, sir," replied Yularen. "As soon as we load relief supplies."

"No time, there is," said Yoda, his aged face grim. "Immediately, the messengers must go."

"I understand, sir," said Yularen. "I will personally take an unloaded ship to drop them off, then return to pick up my reinforcements."

* * *

Christophsis, a turquoise planet situated on the major Corellian Run hyper lane and close to the planet of Rodia. The Outer Rim world of Christophsis was the only planet in the Savareen sector's Cristoph system with an atmosphere able to support life. With only one moon, it orbited the star of Christoph. Famous for the beauty of the nearby asteroid belts, it's location still made it hazardous for sentient beings to live there, being a target for stray rocks. The sentient beings who took the risk to live there built magnificent cities out of the crystalized terrain. Spikes of crystal rose from the ground in vast quantities. However some of those magnificent buildings were now shattered and destroyed.

A fierce battle was being waged between dwindling Republican forces and the Separatist droid armies. An entire legion was marching on General Kenobi's location from the south. Anakin, who had thought the battle had been long over, rushed to the front lines to observe what was transpiring. His astromech droid, R2-D2, rolled right on by him towards safety.

"They're back!" Anakin called back to his former master, Obi-Wan, who had followed him.

"I told you this victory was too easy," said Obi-Wan. "We never should have sent the ship back for supplies."

"It wasn't my idea to send the ship back," retorted Anakin. Obi-Wan ignored his former Padawan for a moment. It didn't matter whose idea it was. They needed reinforcements and quick.

"All right, men, second wave incoming," shouted Obi-Wan.

"Rex, you and your men follow me," Anakin ordered before taking off with his captain right behind him.

"Cody, battle positions!" Obi-Wan ordered his commander.

"Up to the front!" shouted Cody. A heavy rain of red lasers were fired upon Kenobi's forces while Anakin and his men disappeared into the shadows. Clones hid behind rocks and fallen buildings, returning fire, as droids marched in an orderly fashion towards their location. The real threats were not the battle droids or the super battle droids, rather, the four legged spider droids with fire power that could easily take out the heavy cannons.

Despite their threat, the clone troopers focused their aim on the battle droids. Cody turned to General Kenobi, nervousness laced in his voice, "Skywalker should have attacked by now!"

"Don't worry!" Kenobi replied. "He knows the plan!"

Sure enough, standing on a crumbling building just over the spider droids, Anakin was patiently waiting for his opportunity to strike when Captain Rex spoke.

"What's our plan of attack, sir?" he asked. Anakin let a smirk cross his lips before turning to Rex.

"Follow me," he said slyly before jumping off and onto the unsuspecting spider droid below. Rex and his men followed without question, immediately shooting at the spider droids, attempting to bring them down. One of the other spider droids spotted Anakin on top of one of its companions and began shooting at him. As soon as Obi-Wan spotted Anakin's light saber deflecting blaster shots, he and his men ran out to face the oncoming battle droids.

Obi-Wan took down the remaining super battle droids, most of which were destroyed by the fire of the heavy cannons, before watching Anakin take down all three of the spider droids. However, behind them were several dozen tanks. Luckily, they were in range of the cannons' fire, but there was no telling how long that would hold them back.

"We're gonna need reinforcements," said Anakin deflecting blaster fire.

"We haven't been able to get through to the Admiral," said Obi-Wan. The tanks continued forward until it became obvious that they could not get passed the Republic's heavy cannons. The droids stopped and pulled back.

"They're retreating!" said Anakin. "They can't get passed the fire of the cannons." Cheers rang out from among the ranks.

"I guess we've held them off for a little while," said Rex just as a single Republican craft sailed over head.

"Looks like help has arrived," said Obi-Wan. "Our cruiser must be back."

"Which means we'll be able to get our reinforcements," said Anakin as they walked over to the landing area just as the ship was arriving.

"Then it looks like our problems are solved," said Obi-Wan. "Fresh troops, new supplies, and perhaps they brought my new Padawan with them."

"You really think it's a good idea to bring a Padawan learner into all this?" asked Anakin.

"I already had her picked out before this war even started," said Obi-Wan. "Since Geonosis, things just sort of got out of hand, and she was working with Master Plo Koon up until recently. You should put in a request for a Padawan. You'd make a good teacher."

Anakin chuckled at the thought. "No, thanks," he said.

"Anakin, teaching is a privilege," said Obi-Wan, "and it's part of a Jedi's responsibility to help train the next generation."

"A Padawan would just slow me down," said Anakin. The ship opened to reveal two young Jedi, a Togruta barely fifteen, and a human, closer to the age of twenty.

"A youngling?" said Obi-Wan. Both he and Anakin were assuming that the Togruta was the Padawan, and that the older one was already a Jedi.

"Who are you two supposed to be?" asked Anakin.

"I'm Oriana Meinhart," said the elder Jedi.

"And I'm Ahsoka Tano," said the younger. "Master Yoda sent us."

"We were told to tell both of you that you must get back to the Jedi Temple immediately," said Oriana. "There's an emergency."

"Well, I don't know if you've noticed," said Anakin, "but we're in a bit of an emergency right here."

"Yes," Obi-Wan agreed. "Our communications have been a bit unreliable, but we've been calling for help."

"Master Yoda hadn't heard from you," said Oriana. "So he sent both of us to deliver the message."

Anakin let out an exasperated sigh. "Great! They don't even know we're in trouble!"

"Maybe you can relay a signal through the cruiser that just dropped us off," said Ahsoka. Anakin and Obi-Wan looked at each other. It was worth a shot.

The four Jedi stood before their holocom, a lone clone stood before them. They could hear laser fire in the back ground.

"We're under attack by Separatist warships, but I'll try to make contact with the Jedi temple for you. Stand by." The four looked anxiously at one another when a figure, short in stature, but hardly in mind or power, appeared before them.

"Master Kenobi," said Yoda. "Glad Ahsoka and Oriana found you, I am."

"Master Yoda," said Obi-Wan. "We are trapped here, and vastly outnumbered. We are in no position to go anywhere or do anything. Our support ships have all been destroyed."

"Send reinforcements to you, we will," said Yoda just as the line was suddenly cut.

"Master Yoda?" called Oriana. The clone came back on.

"We've lost the transmission, sir," he said. "We'll get back to you as soon as we can." With that, the transmission ended.

"Well, I guess we'll have to hold out a little longer," said Anakin. Ahsoka and Oriana looked at each other momentarily.

"My apologies, ladies," said Obi-Wan. "It's time for a proper introduction."

"We are the new Padawan learners," said Oriana.

"Wait! You both are?" said Anakin. He looked skeptically at Oriana.

"Yes," said Ahsoka. "I have been assigned to Master Skywalker."

"And I have been assigned to Master Kenobi," said Oriana with a deep bow. Obi-Wan approached her, his hands folded neatly behind his back.

"I am Obi-Wan Kenobi," he said. "Your new master." He smiled. "Well, as new as a Master can be since you were assigned to be my Padawan quite some time ago."

"A pleasure it is to finally meet you, Master," she replied.

"Hold on a second here!" said Anakin. "I didn't ask for a Padawan! And shouldn't you be Jedi knight by now?"

"My master had been killed in battle several years ago," Oriana replied. "I had been at the Temple studying while he had gone on that mission."

"Oh," said Anakin, unsure of how to react. "Still, I didn't ask for a Padawan!"

"Well, Master Yoda was very specific," said Ahsoka. "I'm assigned to Anakin Skywalker, and he is to supervise my Jedi training."

"We'll sort everything out later," said Obi-Wan. "It won't be long before those droids figure out a way around our cannons."

"I'll check on Rex in the lookout post," said Anakin.

"You'd better take her with you," said Obi-Wan. Anakin walked on with Ahsoka following behind. Oriana watched them worriedly.

"Come," said Obi-Wan, "We better get ready for the next assault."

"Master Kenobi," said Oriana, "I heard that Master Skywalker was your last Padawan."

"Indeed he was," said Obi-Wan. She shifted nervously, unsure of whether or not to bring in the rest of the subject.

"I also heard that he is believed to be the prophesied Chosen One," she said solemnly. It was a little overwhelming to believe that the Jedi who had taught and trained the Chosen One would choose to train her. How could she possibly live up to those expectations? Would he have those same expectations? Or would he think less of her and her abilities? Obi-Wan turned to her, sensing her anxiety.

"Be mindful of your thoughts, my young Padawan," he said with a smile. "While I do not expect you to be as... troublesome... as Anakin, the standards I had for Anakin will be no less for you."

Oriana smiled, glad that he thought no less of her than of Anakin. He knew as well as she that she was no where near Anakin's level of power, but he expected her to show just as much (if not more) control, patience, and discipline. Master and Padawan were helping the troopers gear up when they heard a loud mechanical hum coming from the droid armies.

Anakin and his men retreated from their posts for the time being to work on a strategy for this oncoming assault. With a shield in place, things were about to get impossible on the field. The two Knights and their Padawans stood around a hologram projection of their strategy.

"The shield generator is somewhere in this area," said ObiWan. "They're slowly increasing the diameter, and keeping it just ahead of their troops."

"Heavy cannons are gonna be useless against that," said Oriana.

"As they get closer, I suppose we could try to draw them into the buildings. That might level the playing field a bit."

"If that shield's gonna be such a problem, why don't we just take it out?" asked Ahsoka.

"Easier said than done," said Rex who had joined them.

"Well, I, for one," said Anakin, "agree with her. Someone has to get to that shield generator and destroy it. That's the key."

"Right then," said Obi-Wan. "Maybe you two can tiptoe through the enemy lines and solve this particular problem together."

"Can do, Master Kenobi," said Ahsoka.

"I'll decide what we do," said Anakin.

"Oriana and I will engage them here," said Obi-Wan, "that should give the two of you a chance to get through their lines undetected."

"You won't have much time," Oriana said to both of them. "The droids far outnumber us, so our ability to street fight is limited without the use of heavy cannons." She looked down at the hologram. "They will march forward under the protection of their shield until they are right on top of our cannons, then blow them away."

"We'll figure out a way," said Ahsoka. Oriana shook her head slightly, barely noticed by anyone other then Obi-Wan. "Come on, Master, let's go."

The two of them walked away with Anakin muttering about how they were going to have a talk if they survived this.

"They make quite the pair, don't they, Master?" said Oriana.

"You think they have a chance?" asked Rex.

"They better," said Obi-Wan. "If they can't turn off that shield generator before it reaches the heavy cannons, there'll be no escape for any of us."

* * *

The heavy cannons fired an endless blue rain upon the shield with absolutely no results. Oriana turned to Obi-Wan, her face calm, and making her look older than she really was.

"That shield is certainly putting a crimp in my day," said Obi-Wan.

"It's no use, Master," said Oriana. "The cannons have no effect, even at full power."

"Well, it was worth a try," Obi-Wan replied. "Rex! Tell the men to fall back!"

They all hid behind rocks and fallen buildings, waiting for the shield to passover them before engaging the enemy. Oriana let out a calming breath, releasing her anxiety into the Force and then letting it flow through her, becoming a part of it. She had always felt that she was the worst of all the Padawans, and to be assigned to a member of the High Council was an honor she didn't feel she deserved. Especially the one who had supervised the training of the Chosen One, but now was not the time for her to doubt herself or her abilities.

"Very good," said Obi-Wan. "Focus on the here and now, do not let your concentration wander to the past or the future. Be mindful of the Living Force."

"Yes, Master," she said pulling out her light saber and activating it just as the shield passed.

"We're inside the shield," said Obi-Wan. "Just stay away from those tanks." After a few minutes, both Master and Padawan leapt from their positions down into droid battalions. Everything happened all at once to Oriana, blocking several blasts, she sliced through several droids all at once. She could feel the Force guiding her muscles into the right positions, blocking enemy fire, cutting through their thick metal armor like butter. It was as natural as breathing for her, and at the same time calming, despite the chaos surrounding her.

When it became obvious that there were too many droids, they had to pull back into the buildings and eventually back out as the shield continued on towards the heavy cannons. Obi-Wan, Oriana, and Rex ducked for cover as more droids marched closer to their positions.

"The shield has almost reached the heavy cannons," cried Oriana.

"We're not gonna be able to stop them, sir," said Rex.

"Move your troops back to the heavy cannons," Obi-Wan ordered. "Do everything you can to protect them. Oriana and I will delay the droids."

"But-"

"That is an order, Captain!" shouted Obi-Wan. Just as Rex ran off with the rest of the troops, a super battle droid jumped over Oriana's head just as Obi-Wan's light saber cut through it. Through the will of the Force, Oriana jumped up and followed her Master's lead.

"I hope you have a plan, Master," she said.

"Just follow my lead and you'll be fine," he said, silently hoping that she was not like Anakin who would, in fact, disobey orders and come up with a plan of his own. After cutting down several battle droids, both Jedi found themselves surrounded by super battle droids, spider droids, and a tank. Obi-Wan turned his light saber off, and Oriana did the same, trusting both her Master and the Force. The top hatch of the tank opened to reveal General Whorm Loathsom.

"You must be the infamous General Kenobi," said Loathsom.

"Indeed," said Obi-Wan as he and Oriana had their light sabers taken away. "We surrender."

"Now, Master Kenobi, order your troops to stand down."

"General, have a seat," said Obi-Wan after telekinetically picking out some stones and setting them down.

"Have you gone mad?" asked Loathsom, gently scratching the side of his head in confusion.

"We've conceded the battle," said Oriana, immediately realizing her Master's plan. "Now we simply have to negotiate the terms of surrender."

"Don't try any tricks, Jedi," he said spitefully.

"Surely there's no reason we can't be civilized about this," said Obi-Wan. General Loathsom stepped out of his tank, followed by one of his droids, in order to meet with the two Jedi. "'Tis a rare honor to be able to meed one's opponent face-to-face. You're a legend throughout the Inner Core."

"Thank you," he said. "The honor is all mine. I'm so glad you decided to surrender."

"Well, at some point, one must accept the reality of the situation," said Obi-Wan before clearing his throat. "Might we have some refreshments?"

Oriana resisted the urge to roll her eyes or slam her head against the makeshift table. Her Master obviously had a plan, but still...

"You," Loathsom said to his rabbit-like droid companion. "Bring us something liquid."

"Thank you," said Obi-Wan. "This shouldn't take long."

_Hopefully..._

If it was obvious that Obi-Wan was stalling before, it was pretty clear now. Refreshments had been served, and Oriana was carefully sipping on the drink she had been given. It wasn't the best drink she'd ever tasted, but it was better to stall politely, if you were going to stall at all. She could tell, without the Force, that Loathsom was starting to get a little (to put it lightly) irritated.

Oriana listened as Obi-Wan tried to negotiate terms of surrender. With every word, Loathsom was starting to get more and more furious with this blatantly obvious distraction, and quite honestly, it just felt ridiculous to Oriana. Surely there was a more subtle way of stalling.

"Enough of this!" shouted Loathsom. "You are stalling!"

"Nonsense," replied Obi-Wan. "There are numerous details to be discussed." Angrily, the Admiral threw the table over (which Oriana had to avoid)

"Seize them!" He ordered his droids. Two super battle droids grabbed each of them and hoisted them into the air."Unless you call off your troops right now, I will have no choice but to destroy you."

"Truthfully I was hoping your shield would be knocked out by now," Obi-Wan muttered. Oriana could hear the the fight in the background. Time was almost up. She peered up to see the shield still up.

Closing her eyes, she let herself relax, waiting patiently for the cue from Anakin.

"Kill them," ordered Loathsom.

The shield dropped, finally. Oriana relaxed only momentarily before calling her light saber to her hand.

"Better late then never," she said as Obi-Wan did the same. Obi-Wan flipped himself out of the grip of the two super droids holding him and landed behind the General. The droids tried to shoot at them, only to have the blasts deflected by Oriana.

"Don't shoot!" shouted Loathsom.

"Something appears to have happened to your shield, General," said Obi-Wan as they heard the heavy cannons fire on the tanks and droid battalions. The battle had been won. Oriana let out a sigh as she stayed in a defensive position in case any of the droids tried to shoot at them, despite the General's orders. Obi-Wan turned on his holocom just as he was receiving a message from Admiral Yularen.

"General Kenobi, if you can hear me, we're through the blockade," said the Admiral. "The Separatist armada is in retreat. Your reinforcements should be landing in a moment." Indeed, as Obi-Wan and Oriana looked up, several dozens of gunships were coming down for a landing.

"Well," said Obi-Wan. "Shall we get going?" It wasn't long before the clone troopers found them and arrested General Loathsom. They arrived back at the encampment just as Master Yoda's gunship landed.

"Your timing is perfect, Master Yoda," said Obi-Wan.

"Good, it is, to see you both," said Yoda. Oriana bowed before Yoda, and he returned the gesture with a slight nod. "Your new Padawan, Master Kenobi, what do you think?"

"She does need some work," said Obi-Wan, "but that's why she's with me. It's Anakin and his new Padawan that seems to be the problem. Anakin does not think he is ready for a Padawan."

"Discuss this with Skywalker, we will," said Yoda.

Anakin and Ahsoka returned unharmed. Their mission to reclaim the planet Christophsis was a success. There was a lot of cheering amongst the ranks of the troopers.

"Master Obi-Wan, Master Yoda," said Anakin. "Oriana."

"Trouble, you have, with your new Padawan, I hear," said Yoda to Anakin.

"I was explaining the situation to Master Yoda," said Obi-Wan, noticing the exchange of looks between Anakin and Ahsoka.

"Really?"

"If not ready for a Padawan, you are, then perhaps, Obi-Wan, we can-"

"No, wait a minute. I admit Ahsoka is a little rough around the edges," interrupted Anakin. "But with a great deal of training, and patience, she might amount to something."

Oriana pursed her lips together, trying not to look too happy for both herself and Ahsoka being accepted by their Masters. She looked over at Ahsoka, who winked at her. Oriana flashed a smile her way, no longer able to keep it in.

"Skywalker, to the Teth system, you and your Padawan must go," said Yoda.

"Teth? That's Wild Space," said Anakin. "The droid army isn't even in that sector."

"Kidnapped, Jabba the Hutt's son has been."

"You want me to rescue Jabba's son?"

"Anakin, we'll need the Hutts' allegiance to give us an advantage over Dooku," said Obi-Wan.

"Negotiate the treaty with Jabba, Obi-Wan and Oriana will," said Yoda. "Find the renegades that hold Jabba's son, your mission will be, Skywalker."

"Come on, Master, it doesn't sound that hard," said Ahsoka. "I'll find Rex and get the troops organized."

"Don't worry, Anakin," said Obi-Wan. "Just teach her everything I taught you, and she'll turn out fine."

"You know, something makes me think this was your idea from the start," Anakin replied before he walked off to join Ahsoka.

"Let's just hope Anakin is ready for this responsibility," said Obi-Wan.

"Ready, he is, to teach an apprentice," replied Yoda. "To let go of his pupil, a greater challenge it will be. Master this, Skywalker must."

"If we've got to make a deal with Jabba the Hutt," said Obi-Wan, glancing briefly at Oriana. "We'd best be on our way."

"Master," said Oriana as she and Obi-Wan stepped away towards his ship.

"Yes?"

"I just want to thank you," she said. "For taking me in as your Padawan."

"The pleasure is all mine," said Obi-Wan as he smiled at her. "Come. We need to get to Tatooine quickly if we are to negotiate with Jabba."

"Yes, Master."

* * *

Tatooine, a real dust ball in the Outer Rim and home to Jabba the Hutt. Oriana, who did not have a ship of her own sat behind the pilot seat in Obi-Wan's craft. She heard Obi-Wan's astromech droid chirp nervously.

"Don't worry," said Obi-Wan. "I'm sure Jabba's in a good mood."

"Somehow," said Oriana as Obi-Wan's ship detached from the Hyperdrive engines, "that doesn't comfort me at all."

"Ah, I was wondering if you had a sense of humor," Obi-Wan replied. Oriana glared at the back of Obi-Wan's head.

"That wasn't supposed to be funny," she said. They landed gently just outside Jabba's Palace. The astromech droid continued to chirp worriedly. Both Obi-Wan and Oriana were greeted by Jabba's protocol droid and some of his lackeys.

"We should not keep the wise and powerful Jabba waiting," said the protocol droid.

"I wouldn't dream of it," said Obi-Wan. He and his young Padawan followed them into Jabba's palace. Inside was dark and dreary. It made Oriana very uncomfortable.

They were brought before Jabba, and it took everything in her not to wretch in front of everyone. Something powerful and sinister was watching them, but even as she looked around, she could not spot anything unusual in the room.

"Mighty Jabba, one of our most powerful Jedi is on his way to rescue your son," said Obi-Wan. "We will not let you down." Jabba replied, but it was in a language that only the Hutts knew.

"The most gracious Jabba has one more condition," said the protocol droid. "He demands you bring back the slime who kidnapped his little punky muffin."

"Punky?" laughed Oriana, earning herself a stern look from Obi-Wan.

"Dead or alive," the droid continued to translate. "If you do not succeed, Count Dooku and his droid army will."

Obi-Wan and Oriana left to tell Anakin what Jabba has demanded of them.

"Something's not right around here," said Oriana. "There's more to this."

"Don't let your mind wander," said Obi-Wan. "Keep your focus here and now where it belongs."

"But Master Yoda said I should be mindful of the future," she argued. Obi-Wan couldn't help but smile. Her words reminding him of a more joyful time.

"But not at the expense of the present," he replied. "All right, Anakin," Obi-Wan began as soon as they had communications set up. "Here's the story, Jabba has given us only one planetary rotation to get his son back home to Tatooine safe and sound."

"Won't take us that long, Master," said Anakin.

"Well, take extreme care. We have no idea who's holding Jabba's son. When Oriana and I have finished here, we will join you."

* * *

They had returned to their cruiser and were preparing to go to Anakin's aide when Oriana decided to speak to her master concerning what she had felt while they had been on Tatooine.

"Master," she said. "On Tatooine, I felt very uncomfortable. It was like something dark and heavy was weighing on my chest."

"That is the Dark side," said Obi-Wan, "and I felt it too. We were not alone there. I suspect that either Count Dooku or his assassin, Ventress, was there. We must hurry. No doubt Anakin will need our help."

"Yes Master," she said in agreement. Obi-Wan finally took a moment to study his new Padawan. She was calm and focused, unlike Anakin, who was always on the move. She listened to orders and obeyed without question, also unlike Anakin. Her hair was dark as well as her eyes. The only similarity between the two of them was their power. Anakin was certainly more powerful, but Master Yoda had confided in him that Oriana's midichlorian count rivaled Yoda's.

"_But, that can't be right," said Obi-Wan. "How could her midichlorian count be higher than yours? The only Jedi who's count exceeds yours is Anakin's, and he's the Chosen One."_

"_Lucky, we were, to find her as young as she was," replied Yoda. "Her mother was a pirate and had left her on the planet of Kadareen to fend for herself when Master Windu found her."_

"_If she really is as powerful as you say, then shouldn't you be her teacher?" asked Obi-Wan._

"_To be her teacher, you must," said Master Yoda._

They arrived in the Teth system just as Anakin's squadron had been overcome by the Separatists. Several fighters were launched from the cruiser. One of them carried Obi-Wan's Padawan. Oriana was an excellent pilot, but so were most Jedi.

"Incoming Vulture droids," said someone over the com link. Oriana let out a breath as she felt the Force flow through her. She melted out of her skin and into the ship, becoming one with it. She could feel ever gear and engine. She fired at the oncoming fighters, taking out three of them at once.

"Nice shot!" She heard Obi-Wan's voice praise her.

"Thank you, Master," she replied before suddenly doing a barrel roll to avoid fire from some of the other vulture droids. She could see a battle going on down below on the eastern side of the monastery.

"Master, there's a battle-"

"I see it," came the interrupting reply. "Where there's a battle, Anakin is probably in the middle of it. See if you can get down there and help them out."

"Yes Master!" she made a dive for the monastery. There were a few clones, but she did not see Anakin. She fired onto the droids, forcing them to retreat slightly so she could land and help out. "Master, I don't see Anakin!" she shouted over the com link.

"I'm coming! See if you can find him."

She found Rex taking cover as she and some other clones began the assault.

"Where is Skywalker?"

"My guess is he's still in the castle," he replied.

"Keep the droids occupied," she said. "I'll go find him."

She ran into the monastery where she found Count Dooku's assassin, Ventress, with light sabers ablaze and ready for battle.

"Ah, you must be Kenobi's new Padawan," she said. "Chasing after Skywalker, I presume."

Oriana had no response. She activated her light saber and lowered herself into a defensive position. The Force once again guided her movements. The two super droids were the first to be cut down as Ventress fled. Oriana hot on her heels.

Oriana stopped when Ventress disappeared from her sight. She could feel Ventress' frustration and anger. She looked around, trying to locate the assassin's position.

"Well, aren't you quiet," she heard Ventress chuckle, her voice echoing off the walls. "Not even Anakin is as serious as you are."

Despite the taunting, Oriana remained calm and composed. She was not easily frustrated or angered. She turned and blocked just in time, both of Ventress' red blades crashing into her purple one. They traded blows for several minutes, each gaining then losing ground before both of them felt a familiar presence enter the monastery.

"Looks like the Master is here to save his Padawan," said Ventress. She only became more frustrated when the taunting did not seem to work on Oriana. This was not Skywalker. It wasn't long before Obi-Wan caught up with them.

"Master Kenobi," said Ventress. "How good of you to join us. Now you can die together."

"I'm afraid we have you a bit outnumbered, my dear," said Obi-Wan. "I suggest you surrender."

"No chance," Ventress replied attacking Obi-Wan, only to by parried by Oriana. Obi-Wan joined in, blue and purple blades clashing violently against red ones. Their fight managed to worm its way out into the open when suddenly, Oriana stopped.

"Anakin is gone," said Oriana. That's when both Obi-Wan and Ventress sensed it. "You've failed Ventress." Ventress retreated on one of her vulture droids. Obi-Wan turned to his young apprentice.

"You should not have engaged her," he said.

"You told me to find Master Skywalker," she replied with an apologetic bow. "That's when I ran into her."

"All's well that ends well, I suppose," said Obi-Wan. "Let's just hope that Anakin makes it to Tatooine in one piece."

* * *

Anakin and Ahsoka's success on Tatooine spread like wild fire. The Republic could now use the Hutt trade routes to get their supplies to the Outer Rim. Anakin met up with his former Master and his Padawan with Ahsoka.

"Congratulations on a job well done," said Obi-Wan.

"Ah! It was nothing," said Anakin with a smug grin. Obi-Wan shook his head, praying that his new Padawan did not turn out the same way.

"You weren't the one fighting MagnaGuards!" said Ahsoka.

"No, I was the one fighting Count Dooku," replied Anakin.

"Good to know you both had a good time," said Oriana with a laugh. "We're all glad you succeeded. Now we have an advantage over Dooku."

"Indeed," agreed Obi-Wan. "It seems this war has finally turned in our favor."

* * *

**I realized like halfway through writing and rewriting this what I did... Anakin and Ahsoka... Obi-Wan and Oriana... I busted up laughing when I realized this. Oriana is celtic for blond, which is amusing because she has dark hair... For those of you who will get the joke later (or you might get it now), I give you a cookie.**


	2. The Malevolence

_Belief is not a matter of choice, but of conviction._

Dozens of Republic Fleets were being targeted and completely destroyed with no survivors. Rumors spread like wild fire from the underground of a Separatist weapon capable of doing such horrifying deeds. Master Plo Koon was sent out to hunt down this secret weapon.

Oriana was with Obi-Wan on his cruiser when they received word from Anakin concerning Master Plo Koon's call for help. Jedi Masters Yoda and Mace Windu were present as well as Chancellor Palpatine. Oriana looked over the group before her eyes fell on the elderly gentleman from Naboo. He had a kindly face and gentle eyes, but she felt a slight chill go down her spine as she studied him. She ignored it, however, passing it off as a draft from one of the air vents.

"Ah, Master Skywalker," said Palpatine as soon as Anakin and Ahsoka joined them. "Have you had any success in finding General Grievous's secret weapon?"

"Master Plo was here in the Abregado system when we lost contact," Anakin replied. "We've had no further contact with General Plo Koon. The absence of distress beacons indicate that his fleet was..." he trailed off for a moment glancing at Ahsoka, who, in return, glanced back, "...that his fleet was destroyed like the others. We are about to prepare a rescue mission."

"Hasn't clone intelligence reported this weapon leaves no survivors?" asked the Chancellor.

"The Separatists are being unusually tidy," said Obi-Wan. "They don't want any witnesses."

"Tragic are these loses," said Master Yoda, "but prevent more, we must."

"All our battle groups will be reassigned to guard our supply convoys," said Mace. "Including yours, Skywalker. I'm afraid we can't risk any more ships for the rescue mission."

"Wait!" said Ahsoka. "Just because there have been no survivors before, doesn't mean that there will be this time."

Everyone looked at her, before turning to the Chancellor. "Boldly spoken for someone so young," he said.

"She is learning from Anakin," said Obi-Wan.

"I agree with her," said Oriana before Anakin could excuse Ahsoka. She saw out of the corner of her eye her Master do a double take. It didn't seem like her to speak so openly. "I have a very strong feeling that Master Plo Koon is alive. If he is, then he knows what this weapon is and how to destroy it. If we just send one or two small ships to search-"

"Oriana," said Obi-Wan. "Hold your tongue." She looked at Obi-Wan to retort, but when she saw the look on her Master's face, she immediately backed down, bowing her head shamefully. "Please excuse my Padawan. I was certain that I was teaching her better."

"And mine as well," said Anakin. "We will deploy as you have instructed, Master."

The transmission ended, and Oriana started for the door before Obi-Wan spoke. "It was not your place to speak out like that, my young Padawan," said Obi-Wan.

"But Master Plo Koon is alive! I know it!" she cried out, turning around to face him. He had a harsh look on his face, causing her to falter slightly. "We... We could save so many more lives just by saving the one!"

"I do see your point," said Obi-Wan sternly, "but that does not make it your place to make suggestions to the High Council."

"So, Master Plo Koon is willing to save your life when you and your former Padawan, Skywalker, when you're in trouble on Geonosis, but you won't help him despite the fact that he has crucial information that could save thousands of lives," Oriana said angrily.

"Enough!" shouted Obi-Wan. "We will discuss this later when you have had time to go cool off."

"But Master-!"

"Now, Oriana!"

Back on Anakin's cruiser, the younger Jedi was having just as much trouble with his own Padawan's behavior. The transmission ended just as Ahsoka turned to leave, but she didn't get far before she was stopped by her Master.

"Ahsoka!"

"If anyone could survive, Master Plo could!" she said in her defense. "Besides, you heard Oriana, she could sense that he's alive! I don't understand why-"

"What you don't understand is Jedi protocol," said Anakin sternly. "Or your place, my young Padawan, and it doesn't matter what Oriana thinks, she, too, is a Padawan learner like you. Both of you need to remember your places."

The doors opened to reveal Admiral Yularen and his Lieutenant awaiting orders. "Admiral," said Anakin. "We'll split up our ships to maximize our defense area. I'll scout ahead for enemy activity."

"Isn't that risky with the mystery weapon out there?" Yularen asked.

"It might be, but I know you won't argue my orders," he said looking pointedly at Ahsoka before walking by her. "Come on, Snips."

* * *

Oriana sat in her designated room where Obi-Wan had ordered her to stay. She had been given strict orders not to leave until he said so. Silently fuming, Oriana tried desperately to let her anger flow away into the Force. Anger was not the way of the Jedi, and she was ashamed that she was still clinging to this emotion, but something inside her did not want to let it go. Master Plo Koon was alive. She had been training with him while Obi-Wan had been unable to take an immediate Padawan given the circumstances. She knew that Master Plo would not go down without a fight, and she knew she was right, and Obi-Wan had even said he agreed with her. Then why didn't he try to go out there and find Master Plo if he agreed with her?

She took a deep breath, gently relaxing all of her muscles. As she let out that same breath, she could feel her anger slowly, very slowly, seep away, until she was comfortable once again. She had never had so much anger pent up inside her before.

The door opened to reveal one of the clone troopers. "General Kenobi needs you up on the bridge, ma'am," he said.

"Okay," she said quietly as she stood up from the bed.

The door to the bridge opened. Obi-Wan was waiting for her. "Well," he said, "have you had time to cool your head?"

"Yes, Master," she said with a bow. "I'm sorry for my behavior earlier."

"Apology accepted," replied Obi-Wan. "Well, let's head into the communications room and see why Anakin is not with his fleet."

"What?"

"I just spoke with Admiral Yularen," said Obi-wan. "He said Anakin went out to scout for enemy activity, which he's probably out in the Abregado system looking for Master Plo Koon."

They both waited patiently for Anakin and Ahsoka to appear. Oriana made a quick glance at her Master. He didn't look like he was terribly upset by this turn of events. In fact, he looked like he had suspected his former Padawan would do something like this. _'Is that why he didn't try to help Master Plo? Because he knew Master Skywalker would?'_ Oriana thought quietly.

"Anakin, where are you?" asked Obi-Wan almost rhetorically as soon as he saw the two trouble makers.

"Oh, hello, Master," said Anakin. "Uh... we made a quick stop in the Abregado system."

"You have other orders."

"It was my idea, Master Obi-Wan," chimed Ahsoka.

"Oh, I'm sure," replied Obi-Wan. "Well, have you found any survivors?"

"No," said Anakin. "You were right. The Separatists don't want any witnesses."

"All the more reason for you to rejoin the defensive escorts. We need you, Anakin. You're going to miss the rendezvous with the fleet if you don't hurry."

"I know, Master," said Anakin. "We're on our way."

That said, the transmission ended. Obi-Wan turned to his Padawan.

"Do not follow his example," he said to her. "I don't know where he got it from, but he didn't get it from me."

"Yes, Master," said Oriana with a slight smile on her face.

"It's not funny," he said angrily.

"I know," she said, "but that's why it's so amusing."

Obi-Wan let out a sigh. "Come, the Chancellor wants a report."

Oriana didn't respond for a moment. Her mind was currently occupied by something else. Obi-Wan and Anakin knew each other so well that Obi-Wan didn't even have to guess what his former Padawan was going to do. Oriana finally followed her Master to the Communications room, trying desperately to cover up her jealousy.

* * *

"We must find a way to destroy this mystery weapon," said Mace.

"In this war, a step ahead of us, Dooku always seems," said Yoda. Oriana felt that chill again as Chancellor Palpatine joined them.

"Tell me, has there been any word from Master Plo Koon or his fleet?" asked the Chancellor.

"No," said Mace. "We must fear the worst."

_I still think he's alive..._ thought Oriana.

"Actually," said Obi-Wan hesitantly. "I just received word that Anakin has found the remains of Master Plo's fleet and is searching the debris for survivors."

"On who's authority has he done this?" asked the Chancellor. Oriana looked over at the Chancellor, and for a moment, she thought she felt a small wave anger radiate from the elderly man. She watched him for a moment before brushing it off as paranoia.

"His own, I'm afraid," said Obi-Wan.

"With his fleet out of position," said Mace, "We are left vulnerable."

"Oh, his fleet is right where it should be," said Obi-Wan. "He's taken only a small ship and his Padawan."

"Twice the trouble they have become," said Yoda. "A reckless decision, Skywalker has made."

"Let us hope it is not a costly one," said Palpatine.

"Master Plo Koon is alive," said Oriana. They all looked at her, including Obi-Wan. "I know he is."

* * *

Obi-Wan looked over at his Padawan after the report from both Anakin and Master Plo Koon. She had a big smile on her face, but she was trying, and he could tell, not to look over at him. She had promptly told Master Plo of her undying faith in him. Obi-Wan let out a faint chuckle as he leaned against to holocomm table.

"You're not going to gloat?" asked Obi-Wan. Oriana smile grew in return.

"Do I need to?" she threw back. "Have you not realized that I was right all along already?"

"All right! I asked for that," he sighed. "Perhaps I should have put a little bit more faith in your abilities, but you still shouldn't have spoken up like you did when Anakin reported the incident in the first place."

"Yes, Master, and I'm sorry for how I acted afterwards," she said. "Especially with what I said about Geonosis."

"Apology accepted," he said. "Did anyone tell you what happened that day?"

"Not really," she replied. "No one really wanted to talk about it. There were a lot of lives lost that day."

"Yes," said Obi-Wan, his brow furrowed and he frowned slightly. The memory of what Count Dooku had said to him before hand came unbidden into his mind.

"_What if I told you that the Senate of the Republic was now under the control of the Dark Lord of the Sith?"_ No, it wasn't possible. One of the Jedi would have sensed it by now.

"Is something wrong?" asked Oriana. Obi-Wan had grown silent, suddenly, and it worried her.

"No," said Obi-Wan, shaking himself from his reverie. "I'm fine."

Oriana watched her master walk away. She didn't need to be Force-sensitive to know that something was wrong. Something had happened that day on Geonosis. She was sure it had something to do with the leader of the Separatists, Count Dooku. Count Dooku had been the Master of Qui-Gon, who had, in turn became Obi-Wan's Master. The Count had also been a former Padawan of Master Yoda. She was in a line of powerful teachers, and she could only hope to live up to such high expectations.

Well, whatever it was that was bothering him, he probably didn't want to talk about it, even though he probably should and needed to, and she carefully resigned herself to that fact. Master Yoda or Master Windu would be the more appropriate people to talk to anyway. She was, after all, just a simple Padawan learner. What did she know?

She knew Master Plo Koon was alive. She knew that much at least. Yet, if she knew, how come her Master or anybody else, for that matter, did not sense it. They were hopeful, but not convinced, and it was aggravating to think about.

Somehow, her thoughts turned to Chancellor Palpatine, and the chill she got every time she looked into his seemingly kind face. She didn't like that man, and if she could avoid him, she would.

A strike force had been ordered by the Senate to take down the Separatists secret weapon, the _Malevolence._ Anakin was given charge over that strike force, and currently, he and his men were getting ready to get going. Oriana stood by her Master as she watched the fighters pass by.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Anakin," said Obi-Wan.

"Well, if I don't, I won't be around to hear the 'I told you so,'" he replied over the comm link.

"That's reassuring."

"May the Force be with you, Master Skywalker," said Oriana.

"Thanks Oriana."

"Take your short cut, and I'll take the long way, but you better be there before I arrive."

"I'll be there Obi-Wan."

* * *

Oriana was surprised when they arrived. The _Malevolence _was in full retreat with some heavy damage. Obi-Wan was not as surprised. Taking out a ship of that size was child's play for Anakin. That boy's skills were incredible, but Obi-Wan tried not to be too surprised.

"Get me in touch with Anakin!" Obi-Wan ordered. "Anakin, do you copy?"

"I'm here," came the downtrodden reply.

"Congratulations, it looks like your mission was a success," said Obi-Wan.

"Partially," replied Anakin. "But Grievous is still alive. The battle was pretty rough on my men. We're heading for the medical station."

"We'll take it from here," said Obi-Wan, "but don't worry, we'll call you when we need you."

"I'll be waiting, Obi-Wan," said Anakin.

"All right, let's finish what Anakin's started," ordered Obi-Wan. "Ahead full."

Oriana stood erect and calm, but her mind was not in the right place. She had heard her Master's former Padawan refer to him as Obi-Wan, something he rarely did. She looked forward to being on a level where she could call her Master by his rightful name.

"Oriana, focus on the fight," said Obi-Wan.

"I'm sorry, Master," she replied, shaking herself mentally from her reverie. General Grievous was still at large.

They pursued for several hours, continually shooting at the enormous ship. However, it seemed to have almost no effect on it at all. Were their shields not damaged? Why weren't they going into hyperspace?

"Commander," said Obi-Wan, "what's the damage level to the enemies ship?"

"She's lost her primary shield and stabilizers, but the ship is so massive, it can take all the fire power our cannons can give it."

"We must summon reinforcements," said Master PLO Koon who had joined them only moments before.

"That's why I'm here, Master Plo Koon," said Anakin as he walked in.

"Anakin, were you able to contact Master Luminara?" asked Obi-Wan.

"Yes, Master," he replied. "She's busy with a fleet of Separatist reinforcements nearby. She won't be able to give us support until she's turned them away."

"Then, we'll have to make do with what we have," said Obi-Wan. After about another hour trying to shoot down the Malevolence, Obi-Wan finally turned to Admiral Yularen.

"Admiral, status report," he ordered.

"They're not attempting to jump to hyperspace," he replied. "Their hyperdrive must be disabled."

"This is our chance," said Obi-Wan. "All ships target the bridge. Maximum fire power."

Suddenly, Oriana felt something was out of place.

"Something's not right here," she said.

"What is it?" asked Obi-Wan.

Before she could respond, Ahsoka answered for her. "Master, I'm picking up a signal near the enemy vessel. Something just came out of hyperspace."

"Enemy reinforcements?" asked Anakin.

"No, it looks like a... Naboo ship?"

"Gunners, stand down," ordered Obi-Wan. "What in blazes are they doing out here?"

"Ahsoka, contact that ship," said Anakin.

"I think it's Senator Amidala," said Oriana.

"What?" said Anakin.

"Naboo cruiser," said Ahsoka. "Identify yourself."

"This is Senator Amidala."

"Padmé!" shouted Anakin. Obi-Wan turned to look at his Padawan. Her instincts were sharp. "What are you doing out here?"

"I was sent on a special mission," she replied. "The Senate was told the Banking clan wanted to negotiate a treaty."

"Get out of there as fast as you can!" Anakin ordered her. However, her ship was caught in a tractor beam.

"I will not be made a Separatist bargaining chip," said Padmé. "Continue your attack! You must destroy this monstrous ship!"

"Admiral," said Anakin turning to Yularen. "Order our ships to stop firing."

There was a pause before Anakin turned to leave. "Where do you think you're going?" asked Obi-Wan.

"Somebody has to save her skin," said Anakin.

"I thought you might say that," said Obi-Wan. "Come, Oriana."

"Hey, if she gets to go, then I should come too!" said Ahsoka.

"No, Ahsoka," said Anakin. "I need you to stay here and help Master Plo."

Ahsoka scoffed. "I never get to go on the fun missions."

"I would hardly call it fun," said Obi-Wan.

"Neither would I," agreed Oriana. She followed both her Master and his former Padawan out to the launch pad. Inside Skywalker's ship, Anakin took the pilot seat as Obi-Wan took the copilot. Oriana stood with R2-D2 behind them.

"I trust you've already formulated a brilliant plan to rescue the Senator," said Obi-Wan.

"As a matter of fact, I have," replied Anakin.

"But do we have a plan B?" asked Obi-Wan. "Every operation needs a backup, Anakin."

"I don't have a backup," said Anakin. "...yet! But I do have a plan for getting on that ship."

"Really?" said Obi-Wan.

"The enemies sensors are obviously damaged. We'll sneak in behind them and dock at the emergency airlock."

"That's your plan?" said Oriana. "Just fly there, land, hope they don't spot us, and walk in the door?"

"Basically," said Anakin.

"Oh, brilliant," said Obi-Wan. "Let's get going."

"Master Skywalker, I hope you're working on that backup plan," said Oriana.

"I'm working on it," said Anakin as he flew the ship out of the dock and off towards the _Malevolence_.

"If they spot us, we'll be pulverized," said Obi-Wan.

"They're too busy repairing the ship," said Oriana.

"They don't have time to notice us," agreed Anakin.

"Subtlety has never been one of your strong points, Anakin," said Obi-Wan.

"If you don't mind me saying so, Master," Oriana chimed. "It isn't one of yours either." Her thoughts drifting to the battle on Christophsis and how he had tried to stall General Loathsom. It had been humorous to say the least.

"Finally, some one who agrees with me," said Anakin.

"Well, it's stronger for me than it is for him," Obi-Wan defended.

"Whatever you say, Master," Anakin teased. "Besides, everything I know, I learned from you, Master."

"If only that were true," said Obi-Wan. They dodged some debris before docking at the emergency airlock.

"We do not want to be spotted," said Obi-Wan as the doors opened, revealing two unsuspecting droids.

"Ah! I knew it! It's them!" shouted one of the droids. Anakin and Obi-Wan exchanged looks before two blue blades lit up and sliced through the droids' armor, destroying them.

"Artoo, you stay here," Anakin ordered.

"Well, now what?" asked Oriana. "This ship is in such chaos I can't sense where the Senator is."

Anakin's communicator flashed on. "Yes?"

"Master," said Ahsoka. "We've found the Senator. I'm patching her through."

"Padmé!"

"Anakin!"

"Are you all right?" he asked. "Where are you?"

"On the lower levels," said Padmé. "I'm fine, but I don't know for how long. Droids are everywhere."

"Obi-Wan, Oriana, and I are on board too."

"What? What are you doing here?

"We came to get you off this ship," said Anakin. "Ahsoka, how can we get to the Senator?"

"According to our scans, there seems to be a large open area in the center of the ship. It should be halfway between the two of you."

"We're on our way," said Anakin. "Did you hear that Padmé?"

"I'll be there!"

The center was extremely large, with monorails moving at fast speeds carrying different cargos to certain locations. Most of the monorails were flat beds, for easy loading purposes. Anakin, Obi-Wan and Oriana arrived at the center. There was no bridge or steps for them to get down or around.

"I don't see her anywhere," said Oriana.

"She's here," replied Anakin. "I can sense her." As they continued to look desperately for any signs of their Senator, they heard gun fire from below. Indeed, Senator Amidala and her protocol droid, C3PO were being fired upon by battle droids.

Oriana was the first to jump from their positions to land on the monorail below. She vaguely heard her Master shout after her, but she ignored it as she continued down towards the Senator and her droid. Obi-Wan and Anakin followed after her.

She heard a droid call out. "Look! Jedi!"

"Fire!" shouted another. Two of the three droids took shots at her, which were both deflected back at them. Padmé pushed C3PO onto one of the monorails below, but he just bounced off and landed on another monorail moving in the opposite direction.

Padmé jumped onto the monorail her droid had bounced off. Anakin followed after her. Obi-Wan went to see if he could get the droid.

"Master," said Oriana over the com link, "I'm gonna go make certain that the hyperdrive stays offline."

"All right, we'll meet you back at the _Twilight_," said Obi-Wan. "Oriana, if you run into General Grievous, do not engage with him, do you understand?"

"Yes, Master," she said before jumping off her monorail towards the hyperdrive. None of them knew that General Grievous had been listening in on that conversation.

It wasn't until she was there that she discovered that. It had been rather quiet on her way up, so she should have expected some sort of trap. Several dozen battle droids and super battle droids and General Grievous himself along with three droidekas out flanked her. She turned, light saber drawn, and faced the General.

"Hello there," greeted the General. Oriana stood her ground. "You must be General Kenobi's Padawan, Oriana."

"And you must be the infamous General Grievous," said Oriana.

"My reputation precedes me," he laughed mechanically. "Did you really think I would leave the hyperdrive unguarded?"

"I had my hopes," said Oriana with a clever smirk. She relaxed herself into the flow of the Force, allowing, once again, for it to take control of her actions. She jumped back and landed behind one of the droidekas and force pushed it causing it to roll into one of the flanks, clearing a path. She quickly got away with General Grievous and the other two droidekas following her.

"Guard the hyperdrive," Grievous ordered the other battle droids. "I will deal with this Jedi myself."

Oriana ran towards the airlock where their ship was still docked. "Master!" she called over the com link. "I'm afraid Grievous is onto us. I wasn't able to disable the hyperdrive."

"I noticed," said Obi-Wan. "Get back to the ship. Anakin and I will meet you there, and see if you can find C3PO. I got separated from him."

"Yes, Master," she replied. She could hear the thundering roll of the two droidekas behind her. She suddenly stopped and sliced one of the destroyers as it rolled by. She ran towards the other just as it was stopping itself and sliced through it twice before bringing up her light saber to clash with two of Grievous's own light sabers. She suddenly force pushed him and made a dash for it.

Grievous was hot on her tail, even as she jumped onto a monorail, trying to lose him. He smashed through everything in his way, trying to get to her. She turned to face him as he crashed down on her with two light sabers of his own. She defended herself bravely, before jumping onto another monorail heading the opposite direction.

Insuring that he wouldn't following her, she took off towards their ship, in search of C3PO and Artoo. She found them both wandering around close to the ship. Well, C3PO was wandering. Artoo knew where he... it... was going.

"Come on," she said to them. "Let's get going. Master Kenobi, Skywalker, and Senator Amidala are on their way. We need to get the ship prepped."

"Oh finally," said Threepio. Artoo whistled in agreement. They were both pleased to be getting off the ship that was shaking and rattling around like it was going to blow any minute.

"Oriana!" she heard a familiar voice shout. Anakin and Padmé were running towards them, with Obi-Wan close behind. There were three droidekas following them. Once they were on board, Obi-Wan and Anakin took their seats as copilot and pilot.

"I'll contact the fleet," said Obi-Wan.

"Artoo," said Anakin. "Release the docking lock."

With a hiss, the ship released itself from the _Malevolence._ They quickly found themselves being pursued by General Grievous and a few of his vulture droids. Oriana and Padmé took control of the guns before shooting down several of the droids.

"General, our scanners indicate that the enemy has engaged the hyperdrive," said Admiral Yularen over the comm link.

"Don't worry about it," said Anakin. "I left them a little surprise." All of them watched as the enormous ship suddenly turned towards the moon and smashed right into it. Grievous had escaped, but the Separatists weapon had been completely decimated.

"I'm guessing you had something to do with that," said Obi-Wan.

"Maybe," said Anakin with a grin.

The _Twilight_ landed gracefully on Obi-Wan's cruiser. There were cheers sounding off all through the entire ship, cheers of triumph. Oriana smiled graciously, even though she had done nothing really. In fact, she felt extremely useless. Everything went well because of Anakin. She really had done nothing but confront Grievous when she had been ordered not to. The smile slowly dropped from her face as she looked at Anakin. Jealousy was welling up inside of her, and she couldn't stop it. Anakin was more powerful, more efficient, more useful. Not to mention the relationship between him and Obi-Wan.

Realizing the dangerous route her feelings were taking, she left the band of heroes to go and meditate. Quiet her mind and focus, there had been a reason she had gone with them, but what it was, and if she failed or succeeded were lost on her.

* * *

**I worked really hard on this one. So please leave a review. This chapter was basically here to introduce Oriana to General Grievous. Next chapter will reveal how well she can handle doing a job on her own. This will all lead up to the meeting between her and Count Dooku. Happy Thanksgiving!**


	3. Third Battle of Kamino

_The best confidence builder is experience._

"Still here Anakin?" asked Obi-Wan as he approached the younger Jedi at the Holocom table. "When was the last time you slept?"

"I'll sleep after we find General Grievous," said Anakin as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He was obviously exhausted after several days with no sleep. Ahsoka was back at the Jedi temple for her studies. "Clone intelligence spotted him in the Bolmor system, and that was weeks ago. Since then, he vanished."

"Well, unlike you, I think he's getting some much needed rest," replied Obi-Wan pointedly. Artoo bleeped in agreement. Anakin glared at his former Master when Admiral Yularen walked in.

"Excuse me, General," he said. "Incoming transmission from Oriana." She appeared on the hologram wearing the usual garb for a Jedi Padawan and a brown cloak over it.

"Master Kenobi, Master Skywalker," she greeted with a bow.

"Oriana, how goes the inspections?" asked Obi-Wan, a smile stretching across his features.

"Tracking station in Pasteel is fully operational," she replied. "Commander Cody, Captain Rex and I are proceeding to the outposts in the Rishi system."

"Good," said Obi-Wan. "Report back once you've arrived."

"Yes, Master," she said before disappearing.

"Oriana is very skilled," said Obi-Wan. "She might even rival you, Anakin." Anakin rolled his eyes, the tease was not lost on him. "Don't worry. If General Grievous comes anywhere near this quadrant, we'll know about it."

* * *

"Rishi outpost this is Commander Cody. Do you copy? Rishi outpost, please respond."

Oriana listened intently for the reply. She could feel from their ship the amount of unnecessary anxiety and fear and anger from the clones on the outpost. Something wasn't right. She gently flipped her dark her over her shoulder, a nervous gesture.

"Rishi outpost, come in. Rishi outpost, come in." An image of a clone trooper helmet appeared on Rex's screen. However, Oriana could tell immediately that there was no clone under the helmet.

"Sorry, Commander," it said. "We're experiencing technical difficulties."

"This is the inspection team," said Oriana.

"Inspection," it repeated. "Negative. Negative!" It sounded robotic and out of place. "We do not require an inspection. Everything is fine here. Thank you."

"We'll be the judge of that," said Oriana. "Prepare for our arrival."

"Roger, roger," it replied. Oriana frowned before turning to Cody.

"Get me in touch with Master Obi-Wan before we land," she said. "I need to speak with him."

Obi-Wan appeared on the holocom. "What seems to be the problem, Oriana?" he asked.

"Master, be ready to head to the Rishi moon outpost," she said. "There's something strange going on there. I'll get in touch with you as soon as I find out what it is."

"They're giving us an all clear signal," said Obi-Wan.

"Well, if that signal goes out, come to the Rishi outpost immediately."

"Okay then, I'll trust you on this one," said Obi-Wan. Oriana felt her face light up with a smile as the holocom turned off. He was trusting her. She turned to Cody.

"All right, be ready for the worst," she said.

They landed on the outpost smoothly. It was enormous with an extremely large disk sending out the all-clear signal to the rest of the Republic Fleet. From first look, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the outpost, other than a few details, but that could have just been from sloppy care by the clone troopers stationed there. Oriana could tell, however, that something was seriously wrong.

"This is not good," said Cody. "I don't see the deck officer anywhere."

"These boys are sloppy," said Rex.

"It may not be that they're not taking care of their post," said Oriana. "I have a feeling there may be more at work here than just poor discipline and care."

The blast doors to the outpost opened to reveal a lone clone trooper. His body language was strange, and his speech was robotic and recorded.

"Welcome to Rishi, Commander," it said, its gestures awkward and overdone. "As you can see, the outpost is operating at peak efficiency. Thank you for visiting and have a safe trip back."

"Remove your helmet," said Oriana.

"Sir?"

"I said, remove your helmet," she repeated. "That's an order."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a red flare shoot up into the air.

"A droid attack flare?" said Cody. Oriana pulled out her light saber and sliced the supposed trooper in half before jabbing it into the "clone's" skull.

"Commander Oriana!" shouted Cody.

Oriana carefully removed the helmet to reveal a droid in place of a clone. She immediately jumped up to block another blaster shot as several commando droids came out from the outpost and from behind the cargo on the landing platform, surrounding Oriana and the two clones in an ambush. Cody and Rex fired in return, red and blue laser fire lighting up the platform with one purple light saber. They quickly took cover behind some cargo.

"We're cut off!" shouted Rex. Suddenly, two commando droids ran out from the post and threw four grenades.

"Off the platform!" shouted Oriana. The explosion destroyed their ship, but the Jedi and the two clones managed to escape the blast relatively unscathed. They landed just under the outpost with no forms of communication, and their only outpost protecting Kamino in Separatists hands.

"Well, this complicates things a bit," said Rex.

"No worse then the time on Tabrin," said Cody.

Three figures appeared from the darkness, three clone troopers to be exact. Oriana relaxed slightly, sensing that these three were indeed life forms.

"Hands above your heads!"shouted Rex. "Take your helmets off!"

"It's okay, Rex," said Oriana with a smile. "These are the survivors that shot that flare."

An enormous eel shot out of it's hole in the cliff, roaring madly with hunger. Without a second thought, Oriana drew her saber and jumped, slicing it's head clean off. She silently apologized.

_'I must protect my friends.'_

"Whoa..." muttered one of the survivors. "A Jedi..."

"The name's Oriana," she said with a smile. "Commander or ma'am or even sir will do just nicely. This is Captain Rex and Commander Cody. We're your inspections crew, and I must say you boys have done a really sloppy job."

"Sir! Yes sir!" All three rookies shouted.

"My designation is 27-5555, sir!" said the first clone.

"We call him Fives," said the second. "I'm Hevy, and this is Echo." He gestured to the third.

"Where's your Sergeant?" she asked.

"Dead, sir," said Echo. "We're all that's left."

"Looks like we've got ourselves a batch of shinies," said Rex.

"Shinies?" asked Echo.

"Yes," said Rex. "Your armor, it's shiny and new, just like you."

"Sir, me and my batches are trained and ready," said Hevy. "We'll take back our post, shiny or not."

"That's good to hear," said Oriana.

"There's hope for you yet, Rookie," said Rex. They climbed up until they were close enough to the post, but still couldn't be spotted by the commando droids inside. Oriana had her light saber in hand, but not active.

"As long as those tweezers occupy this post, our home planet of Kamino's at risk," said Rex.

"But there's so many of them," said Echo.

"Doesn't matter," said Oriana. "We must retake this base."

"We will retake this base," said Rex.

"How do you propose we get through those blast doors?" asked Cody.

"I have a pretty good idea," said Oriana with a slight smirk. "Which one of you can make your voice sound really robotic?"

They were silent for a moment before Rex's face lit up with a grin."Ah, I see," he said. "I'll do it, especially since I know what it is you're thinking."

"Do you now?" she said. "Are you sure you're not Force-sensitive, Rex?"

"I'm pretty sure, General," he replied as he put on his helmet covering up his grin. "Let's do this."

Up on the platform, Rex approached the camera as awkwardly robotic as he could. The camera jutted out, a robotic voice echoing off the rocks.

"Unit 26, is that you?"

"Roger, roger," replied Rex.

"You sound strange. Is something wrong with your vocabulator?"

"Roger, roger."

"Take off your helmet, let me see your face plate."

"Roger, roger," Rex ducked down and picked up the head of a droid Oriana had tossed to him. He raised it up to the camera. Oriana resisted the urge to laugh while she heard Cody mutter under his breath.

"This is never going to work."

The blast doors opened revealing three commando droids expecting another droid. Instead, they got clone troopers and one Jedi Padawan.

"Clones."

"Roger, roger," said Rex before he shot the first droid. Oriana took care of the other two swiftly.

"All right, guys, let's move!" she ordered. They approached the stairs quietly and stopped at the bottom.

"Permission to take point, sir," said Hevy. Oriana smiled and looked at Rex.

"I'm always first kid," said Rex. Oriana shrugged and followed Rex up the stairs followed by the others. Rex fired the first shot, and the others followed suit, ducking behind cargo for cover. Oriana, however, blocking several blasts, ran on and sliced the two commando droids working the station. She disabled one commando droid's gun. It took only a second for the droid to pull out a sword like weapon which was cut in half as it met her light saber. She then brought her saber down on the droid's torso, slicing it in two, then jamming it into the droids head.

"Get to the window," said Cody as soon as all the droids were no longer operating. "Looks like we have more visitors."

An entire separatist fleet was floating by just out of orbit. Oriana felt a slight anxiety rise in her chest. General Grievous was there.

"That's why they commandeered the outpost," said Cody.

Oriana nodded. "They're mounting a full scale invasion. We have to warn Master Obi-Wan and Skywalker."

"Those clankers sabotaged our transmitter and hardwired the all clear signal," said Echo. "It'll take time to-"

"We don't have time," said Rex.

"Look!" shouted Cody. A Separatist carrier was making a descent towards the outpost. Several dozen battle droids unloaded from the carrier once it had landed.

"Well, buddy," said Fives to Hevy. "You always said you wanted to be on the front lines."

"We can't protect this post for long against that army of clankers," said Hevy.

"Then we'll destroy the outpost, instead," said Rex.

"But sir, our mission is to defend this facility, at all costs," said Echo.

"We have to warn the Republic," said Oriana. "And I did tell my Master that if the station stopped transmitting the all clear signal, to come immediately. If it's not here to transmit the signal, then they should come. Not to mention, I'd rather it be destroyed then have it fall into enemy hands."

"We'll need every thermal detonator in the inventory," said Rex.

"It'll take more then a few detonators to destroy this outpost," said Hevy.

"We can use the LT," said Echo. Everyone turned to look at him. "This moon freezes for over half the year. We use liquid tibanna as fuel to heat the base."

"That'll work," said Oriana. "Come on, let's get to work."

Cody, Hevy, and Fives took some more weapons down to the blast doors to meet the oncoming reinforcements. Oriana, Rex and Echo worked quickly to get the explosives set up. Oriana could hear the battle below.

"Rex," said Cody. "Time's wasting!"

"Almost ready," Rex replied. "The handset isn't linking up with the detonator."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it, the rest of you get out," said Oriana.

_I must protect my friends._

"But sir-"

"That's an order!" she shouted.

"Sir, I can fix it, it won't take but a moment," said Hevy. She probed Hevy's mind for anything, fear, anxiety, but all she found was confidence and faith in his abilities.

"All right," she finally conceded. "Hurry up, though, the droids are getting closer." She followed the others through the air vent. It wasn't until all of them were outside the base did Oriana realize that Hevy was not with them.

_I must protect..._

"Where's Hevy?" she asked as fear took hold of her heart and held tight.

"I'm on it sir," said Rex. "Hevy, get out of there!"

"The remote isn't working," he replied. "I have to detonate it manually."

"No!" shouted Oriana. She tried to run off to stop him when she was stopped by both Rex and Cody. An image of her former Master flashed through her mind, and her struggle became a little more desperate.

_I must..._

"Sir," said Rex. "You'll only get caught in the blast."

"I have to stop him! He said he could fix it!" she cried, tears coming down her face unwillingly. "Hevy! Don't! Please!"

_...protect..._

The base exploded. All the droids and Hevy went with it. The signal went out, and the entire base collapsed into the canyon below. Oriana was frozen in place, feeling Hevy's life force being snuffed out by the blast.

_...my friends._

"Hevy always did hate that place," said Fives. Within moments, the Republic fleet were there facing the Separatist fleet. Being outgunned, Grievous had to retreat, but Oriana hardly took notice of any of it. Her mind was fixed on the one life that could have been saved if she had just been a little bit stronger. She had seen many lives get taken, but to see someone willingly give up their life for their brothers hit her hard.

"That could have..." she paused. "That should have been me..."

_"I should have been there! I could have helped him!"_

_...protect..._

"Oriana," said Cody gently. "I'm sure Hevy wouldn't have wanted you to die in his place. I think that's why he had you leave." Oriana turned, her eyes red and cheeks tear-stained, and hugged Cody as she broke down. That was a life she could have saved. She didn't have to let him try and fix it. How could she let someone die?

_How could she let _him _die?_

Cody awkwardly put his arms around her as she held him close. Rex knelt down and patted her back gently. This was her first mission on her own, and a simple inspection had turned into a battle that she had not been ready to fight alone.

_...protect...protect...protect..._

Two gunships landed to pick up the survivors. Oriana, having cried herself to sleep in Cody's arms, was carried on board. Back on Obi-Wan's cruiser, Cody carried Oriana, who was still unconscious, off the gunship. Obi-Wan looked them worriedly.

"What happened?" he asked.

"She's all right sir," said Cody. "A little traumatized perhaps, but nothing physically wrong. We lost some real good men on Rishi, and it's taken a toll on her."

"All right, but just in case, take her to the infirmary," said Obi-Wan. He gently rubbed her back, but she didn't stir from her unconscious state. It dawned on Obi-Wan how much she must prep herself for every battle. Otherwise, how could she stand being out on the battlefield with so much pain and agony.

"Yes sir," said Cody. There, at the infirmary, she was laid on a bed while her physical was checked by the medics.

"Will that be all?" asked the medical droid. Cody stood by her bedside for a moment, staring blankly at the droid.

"Uh... I'd like to stay here awhile, if that's okay," he said.

"Of course," said the droid, oblivious to any emotions that were filling the room quickly. Cody gently took her hand and intertwined his fingers in between hers, rubbing his calloused thumb against the back of her hand affectionately.

..._my friends._

_

* * *

_

Obi-Wan walked into Oriana's room just as she was waking up from her unconscious state. She sighed as she felt his familiar presence soothe her frayed feelings and nerves. He had heard the entire story from Cody. Oriana blamed herself for the loss, despite the fact that the man had willingly put his life on the line. She felt as though she could have prevented it, and maybe felt like she had failed her mission.

"Oriana," he said gently.

"Yes Master?" she responded wearily.

"It's not your fault, you know," he said. She looked away, trying not to let the tears swell up.

"Yes, I know," she whispered.

"Then why do you blame yourself?"

"I don't, not anymore," she replied.

Obi-Wan let out a sigh. "Well, clone intelligence picked up a message between Grievous and Ventress. They're going to try a full scale invasion on Kamino, and with the outpost gone, we'll be hard-pressed for a warning."

"Okay," said Oriana as she sat up, a little vertigo shooting through her head.

"Don't push yourself," he said.

"The medics say there's nothing wrong with me," she replied with an edge in her tone.

"I know," he responded softly. "Well, if you think you're ready to get back to work, I won't stop you. You're coming with me to Kamino while Anakin will be up in orbit with the blockade."

"Yes, Master," she said with a slight nod.

"Well, get ready," he said as he stood up. "I'm going to send the medical droid back in to examine you and see if you really are ready to get under way."

* * *

Kamino, Planet of Storms, was the watery world where the Clone Army for the Republic was created, as well as the Kamino Home Fleet. Located in Wild Space, the planet had long ago been submerged under water because of climate change. There were only a few islands left that were once mountains, but they were rained on almost every second.

Obi-Wan, Oriana and Anakin arrived at the city of Tipoca, where all three felt the attack would happen first. There they met with the Prime Minister of Kamino and Master Shaak Ti at the boarding dock.

"Masters Kenobi and Skywalker, and young Padawan Learner Meinhart," said Shaak Ti. "Welcome to Kamino."

"Greetings Generals," said the Prime Minister.

"I wish our arrival wasn't under such circumstances," said Obi-Wan. "We believe Grievous is planning a Separatists assault on Kamino."

"But the Republic Blockade is far too strong," said the Prime Minister. "They would not dare."

"Regardless," said Obi-Wan. "We must be prepared for the worst."

* * *

Oriana stood by Obi-Wan as she watched the battle take place and debris fall from the battle above. Most of it was from the Separatists ships.

"Grievous appears to be sacrificing his transports in favor of protecting his command ship," said Shaak Ti.

"Something's not right here," said Obi-Wan.

"I'm going to go ahead and press the attack, Master," said Anakin.

"No, Anakin, wait," said Obi-Wan. "It's too easy. Not even Grievous would attack so recklessly."

"Master, the battle's up here in space, not down there," replied Anakin.

"The debris from the destroyed Separatists ships is the key," said Obi-Wan.

"What are you thinking?" asked Shaak Ti.

"I'm thinking I'd like to go for a swim."

"Do you want me to come?" asked Oriana.

"No, stay here and follow Master Shaak Ti's instructions."

"Yes Master."

* * *

Obi-Wan returned on the back of an Aiwha, which said a lot with out the assault craft shooting up out of Kamino's waters. Grievous and Ventress were among the thousands of droids, but despite their vast numbers, there were far to few droids for a full scale invasion, or even an attempt to destroy the city where the cloning process had been proceeding for the past eleven years. Oriana found her master just in time as dozens of aqua droids assaulted his position. Anakin had already joined him, having come down from the battle above.

"Their trying to distract us," said Obi-Wan as Oriana joined them. "Anakin, go protect the DNA chamber. Oriana and I will deal with Grievous."

"Got it," said Anakin before taking off down the hall. Oriana and Obi-Wan dashed forward, taking out three of the aqua droids at the front lines.

"Master! I think they're also headed for the barracks," said Oriana. "Grievous will probably be overseeing the operations. This may be one of our few chances to catch General Grievous."

"Good point," said Obi-Wan as he cut down the last droid. "The clones can take it from here. Let's go find Grievous."

They did find him attacking the barracks with over a dozen battle droids. Grievous's back was turned to them when they heard him mutter "under his breath." Not that a cyborg with no lungs could breathe.

"All too easy."

"Define easy, General," said Obi-Wan. The enormous cyborg turned and Oriana could see the vicious grin behind Grievous's eyes.

"Kenobi," he hissed. "and your little Padawan, too. How lucky for me." He pulled out two of his light sabers as Master and Padawan drew theirs. Oriana felt the great energy that was the Force careen into her and through her gently. She carefully let it guide her as she and Obi-Wan pressed on the offensive.

Pretty soon, they had the cyborg on the run before cornering him on a balcony outside. Grievous swung his light sabers wildly as he approached the duo. Oriana's purple light saber clashed with the green one of Grievous's while his blue one slammed into Obi-Wan's blue light saber.

One of the assault craft outside smashed through one of the supports of the platform, causing it to topple over. With no foot holds, Oriana and Obi-Wan easily fell into the waters below, but now without being caught by one of the enormous water creatures of Kamino.

"We've got to stop meeting like this old friend," said Obi-Wan, referring to his encounter with them as he had barely managed to escape the aqua droids before their assault. Oriana managed a laugh before they jumped off the creature's back and onto a stable platform.

"Looks like we've won for today," said Oriana.

"Only if Anakin managed to keep the DNA safe." replied Obi-Wan.

"I managed," said Anakin as he approached them, carrying the white case with the DNA inside it.. "Ventress managed to escape though."

"Well, we didn't have much luck either with Grievous," said Obi-Wan. "Perhaps next time, we'll manage to capture them both."

Once again, Oriana could see the incredible bond between Master and former Padawan. She could feel jealousy rear its ugly head once more. She watched them bond for a moment, envy chewing on her insides. Clenching her jaw and looking away, she quickly stepped away, trying to will the horrible emotion away.

"Something wrong Oriana?" asked Obi-Wan.

"No, I just wanna rest a little," she replied. "I'll be back in a little bit."

* * *

"This is disappointing," said a deep velvety voice. The Separatist cruiser carrying the Republic's traitor, the Separatists' liberator, Count Dooku. Asajj Ventress was kneeling before her master, a great fear and anger taking hold. Even the droids in the room were afraid for their lives (although they were more likely to die—if you could call it that—working with Grievous).

"It won't happen again," said Ventress. She could feel Dooku's rage through the Force, despite his straight and mild expression. Underneath, this man was boiling with rage.

"You've said that before," he replied. The temperature in the room dropped several degrees. "Still, you fail me."

"Please forgive me." It wasn't a plea, and that only infuriated him more.

"Your obsession with Kenobi and Skywalker is clouding your focus," he said. This was not what he wanted to concentrate on. His last conversation with Darth Sidious had given him some insight that he did not want, but was also grateful for.

Darth Sidious was planning to replace him with Skywalker. It wasn't as surprising as it should have been. For a long time, he had suspected as much, but he knew now. He looked at Asajj and his rage returned at full throttle, but he couldn't have her killed, not yet.

No, if anyone was going to die, Sidious would be the first to go.

"I'll speak with my master about your failure," he said. "Go." Ventress didn't argue. She left without making a noise.

As soon as the door opens and closes, the only noises in the room come from the mechanical movements of the battle droids as they carefully fly the cruiser. Darth Sidious would die before this war was over, and the Jedi Order would quickly follow him.

* * *

The darkness was surrounding the Jedi. The depths of the mists over their eyes only increased with every move they made. Who were they fighting? Were they on the right side? Should they have ever taken sides. This war was a political issue. The Separatists claimed the Republic was taking away their sovereignty, and that the corruption was too rampant. The idea of Sith being the instigators behind this war did not even remotely occur to the public mind that there was something wrong with this unnecessary war.

A war that could have been prevented by both the Jedi and the political circle.

The public was catching on, though.

Someone, who had almost no military background, not a bounty hunter, not a pirate, not a gangster, and certainly no Jedi or any type of Force-sensitivity, would get involved and discover something concerning the Republic's current chancellor that would bring in a third party to the war. The Jedi would be forced to take a side.

Which side are you on?

The darkness was surrounding the Jedi.

* * *

**It's finally starting to diverge. The next chapter... well, I'm still deciding. Thank you Lady Gaga (since I can't respond). I did enjoy my thanksgiving, and I'm glad you enjoyed yours.**


	4. Dealing with Pirates

_The winding path to peace is always a worthy one, regardless of how many turns it takes._

A lot had happened since the Battle on Kamino. Anakin and Ahsoka had bravely fought and defeated Grievous at the Battle of Bothawui. They had lost Artoo during the scuffle, but managed to retrieve the lost droid before his memory could be hacked into and recorded. Artoo had more information concerning the Republic than any spy since Anakin refused to erase the droid's memory.

Thanks to Senator Amidala and Representative Binks, Nute Gunray, Viceroy of the Trade Federation, had been successfully apprehended and taken into Ahsoka and Master Luminara's custody. However, Count Dooku sent his Assassin and a traitor to the Republic, Captain Argyus, to rescue him, despite Ventress' previous failures. Together, the duo succeeded in rescuing Gunray, but failed to kill the Jedi aboard.

Ventress would never forget the two Jedi Masters and their Padawans who had foiled her attempt at getting Jabba's son. Oriana was a special case as far as Dooku's assassin was concerned. The moment she had met the young Jedi Padawan, she felt threatened by her. She, somehow, was afraid that this young girl would take her place at Dooku's side.

It was a concern, a fear, she had every right to be obsessed over.

* * *

Count Dooku had finally been tracked down. Anakin had been the brave one to go out and try to capture the traitor, only to disappear off the radar. Obi-Wan and Oriana headed out to try to find Anakin, and stumbled upon a lone Separatist frigate.

Both Jedi were silent as they cautiously crept inside the frigate through one of the emergency air locks. They used only hand signs and gestures to communicate between them. Something Anakin could not do, because he did not bother to study them while he would study at the temple.

They both quietly slipped down to the detention hall, undetected by any of the wandering droids. When they finally made it down to the detention level, the silence was finally broken.

"Well," said Obi-Wan quietly. "Let's see which one of these has our good friend in it." He turned to open the first door.

"I don't think he's-" Oriana started as the door opened. There were two prisoners in them, but neither of them were Anakin.

"Don't bother to get up," said Obi-Wan. "You're not the prisoners we're looking for." He shut the door before either of them could get out and turned to the next door.

"Master-" again, Oriana was cut off by the opening of another door. The room appeared empty, but Obi-Wan could sense that not all was as it seemed. Oriana stood outside the room, in case any battle droids were to wander into the detention level.

A figure dropped down from the ceiling only to find himself facing two light sabers, one blue and one purple. Anakin just smiled, looking from his former Master to Oriana.

"Oh," he said. "It's you two."

"This is how you thank us?" asked Obi-Wan. "Pounce on me from the ceiling."

"Kind of difficult without a..." Obi-Wan held out a familiar object. "... light saber. Thanks," said Anakin as he took his weapon back.

"Did you manage to locate Dooku before landing in jail?" asked Obi-Wan, a slight tease in his tone of voice.

"I know he's on board," replied Anakin. "Might have been able to do something about it if I'd had my _weapon._"

"It was important for you to arrive without it so your capture would be convincing," said Obi-Wan.

"Oh, they were convinced all right," said Anakin. "But how come I'm the one getting caught all the time?"

"Master Plo Koon did tell me a lot about your adventures," said Oriana, "and it does seem you do get caught an awful lot. Will that happen to me when I become a Jedi Knight?" Anakin glared at her, but she ignored him as she listened to Obi-Wan's reply.

"Not unless you make the same reckless decisions as Anakin does," he said. Seeing the infuriated look on Anakin's face, he continued, "When you become a Jedi Master, you can make the plan."

"That's just it!" retorted Anakin. "How can I become a Jedi Master if I'm always getting caught?"

"At least you're a master," said Obi-Wan, "at getting caught."

"Very funny," said Anakin. Oriana quietly snickered, earning a look from Anakin. She merely smiled back sweetly before following Obi-Wan.

They found Count Dooku. He was on the bridge, quietly sitting on the floor meditating. To any normal person, this older man seemed harmless. The three Jedi in the room knew otherwise. This man was more than just dangerous. He was deadly to the unprepared. The Force enabled them to come to a deeper understanding how precarious this handsome man really was.

"Surprise, surprise," said Obi-Wan pulling out his light saber. Oriana and Anakin followed suit. Two blue sabers and one purple rose into the air, ready for a fight. "If it isn't Count Dooku."

"Obi-Wan Kenobi," said Dooku, his eyes closed. "I thought I sensed an unpleasant disturbance in the Force. I see you've freed young Skywalker. Where might he be if you weren't always around to rescue him?"

He opened his eyes, but they didn't meet with Obi-Wan's blue ones, nor did they find the bright green eyes of Anakin. They settled on Oriana's dark eyes. He could sense her feelings of jealousy towards Anakin, even though she had them well hidden from her two partners. The dark side fed on those emotions, so he could sense them despite her efforts to conceal them.

Perhaps he could use those jealous feelings...

Suddenly the ship was rocked by cannon fire.

"Sir! There's a Republic cruiser attacking," said one of the battle droids.

"Your ship is surrounded, Count," said Anakin. "Republic troops are boarding as we speak."

"Jedi fools!" hissed the Count before the floor beneath him opened up. Anakin followed him down the hole.

"What are you doing?" asked Obi-Wan.

"Following him," said Anakin.

"Not that way," said Obi-Wan. "We need to cut him off."

"Oriana's already on it," said Anakin. "You do that, and I'll meet you at the hangar."

Obi-Wan turned to find that Oriana had indeed taken off milliseconds after Dooku had vanished from her sight. She was dashing madly for the hangar, and barely managed to get there when Dooku did. Battle droids fired at her, but she blocked the blasts. Surprising her, Dooku ordered his droids to cease fire.

"You must be Obi-Wan's new Padawan," said Dooku. Oriana raised her light saber defensively. She had heard from Obi-Wan on their way there to save Anakin that Dooku knew how to use the dark side to attack with electricity. Oriana recognized it as Force lightning, something that had been rumored about when she was younger, and mentioned by her former Master.

"I am," she said simply. Dooku could tell that this young woman was nothing like Anakin. She knew it too and was jealous of him because of it.

"I wonder how well you get along with your Master's former Padawan," he said.

"We get along fine," said Oriana, a little defensively.

"I'm sure you do," said Dooku knowingly. He Force pushed her into the closed blaster door, and the collision set her in a daze long enough for Dooku to get on his ship and escape. Obi-Wan arrived just in time to see Dooku's ship take off. For a moment, Obi-Wan worried that Dooku had killed or captured Oriana. He looked to find Oriana still recovering from her daze with a few cut down droids around her feet.

"Sorry, Master," she said as he approached her. Relieved that she was not dead nor captured, Obi-Wan embraced her.

"I'm glad you're okay," he said. He released her. Oriana, a little stunned by such actions, looked around for a way to follow Dooku, and spot a ship, unguarded.

"Master," she said as she pointed it out. Obi-Wan looked over momentarily before turning back to her.

"Are you okay to continue?"

"Yes, of course, why are you even asking?" she said as she worked her way over to the ship.

Anakin had somehow fell behind Dooku, and found his way to the hangar just as Obi-Wan and Oriana were taking off. Both Master and Padawan were in the pilot seats, preparing to follow Count Dooku's solar sailer. Anakin was not happy to find Oriana flying the ship.

"I thought you were following Dooku," said Obi-Wan to Anakin.

"I was," he replied. "I followed him here."

Oriana's flying was similar to Anakin's, but only Obi-Wan noticed this. Oriana's flying, no matter how much alike it was to his, still made Anakin nervous, and he did not bother hiding it. Oriana ignored Anakin and focused on Dooku and his entourage. He had four vulture droids escorting him away from the battle field.

"Ahsoka, Dooku managed to escape," said Obi-Wan. "We're in pursuit, but we could use reinforcements. Follow us in what ships you can round up."

"We'll get there as soon as we can," said Ahsoka. Obi-Wan and Anakin began firing at Dooku's ship and the vulture droids as Oriana carefully maneuvered the ship to give them a better shot as well as avoid any return fire.

One of Obi-Wan's shots hit Dooku's ship as Anakin took out two of the fighters. "Well that was easy!" shouted Anakin.

"Lucky for you, I'm an excellent shot," said Obi-Wan. Oriana dodged the debris and found their ship getting attacked by the other two fighters. Their ship was hit by enemy fire. With no stabilizer, their ship was on a collision course with what Oriana recognized as the planet Vanqor.

Oriana was an excellent pilot, and while her skills were not up to par with Anakin's, they were still beyond the average Jedi's skills. The landing, to say the least, was not smooth, but even if Anakin had been flying, it would not have been much better. She managed somewhat to keep the ship mostly intact in the landing.

"Not one of my gossamer landings," she said. "Better than dead though."

"Next time," said Anakin. "Can I fly?"

"No," said Obi-Wan. "I like Oriana's flying much more then yours."

They had landed only a short distance from where Dooku's ship had crash landed. There were no droids around, and Dooku was no where to be seen. His ship had suffered slight damage to the engine, and he had placed a homing beacon on the hull.

"Looks like the distinguished Count is waiting for help," said Anakin. "He can't be too far away."

"I don't think he's going anywhere any time soon," said Oriana. "His engine is damaged."

"He's not going anywhere," agreed Obi-Wan.

"Not without a homing beacon," said Anakin as he quickly destroyed it with his light saber. They looked around carefully for any places that Dooku might be hiding.

"There," said Obi-Wan pointing towards some openings in the rocky terrain. "Caves are a good start."

"Well, you two can go," said Oriana. "I'm gonna go and get in touch with Ahsoka, see how she's doing and if she's on her way."

"You do that," said Obi-Wan. "We'll take care of Dooku."

Oriana nodded and returned to the ship. The communications weren't damaged, but there wasn't enough power to get them up and running. After a few tries, Oriana gave up and decided to find Obi-Wan and Anakin when she heard a ship landing just a short distance away. Thinking it could be Separatists come to pick up Dooku, Oriana fled from the ship and hid in the rocks close to the caves. They were not Separatists, nor were they with the Republic.

"Pirates," she muttered under her breath. Great, just what they needed.

"Indeed," said a deep masculine voice. Oriana turned around to find Count Dooku standing behind her. "It seems you are a little smarter than your Master or his former Padawan."

"What do you mean?" she asked pulling out her light saber. "What did you do to them?"

Dooku didn't answer. He studied her intently. Dark hair and dark eyes with a pale complexion made a stunning mix. Her Jedi garb hid her femininity, but her face was beautiful enough. If she had not become a Jedi, there wouldn't have been a man in the galaxy, no matter what species, that could resist such a dazzling face.

"What did you do to them?" she repeated, disturbing his musings. She hadn't noticed that he had been studying her intently.

"If you fight me now, you will only attract the attention of the pirates, is that really what you want?" he asked in return.

Oriana lowered her weapon and retracted the blade. She knew he wasn't going to tell her, so that meant there was a way for her to save them, whatever it was that he done to them. Dooku, however, wasn't about to let her try. He started walking away, and when she turned, he quickly knocked her out using the pressure point on her neck. Once she was out cold, he left her lying there just outside the cave Obi-Wan and Anakin were trapped in.

Hondo Ohnaka and his band of Pirates were currently taking what they could from Dooku's ship when Count Dooku approached him. The little Kowakian monkey lizard on his shoulder studied the Count carefully with his owner.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" said Ohnaka. Behind him, two of his man were brawling when one of them managed to hit the other hard enough to knock the man off his feet. Ohnaka's little red pet laughed at the spectacle while Dooku and Ohnaka merely glanced at the man now sprawled out on the ground beside Ohnaka.

"Who are you?" asked Dooku, looking away from the pitiful sight.

"More importantly, my friend, who are you?" Ohnaka asked in return. All of his men gathered behind him, looking intently at the Count.

"Your solar sailer is very beautiful," said Ohnaka. "It's a pretty rare ship. Very expensive. What are you doing all the way out here?"

"I sustained some damage in an asteroid storm and had to make a landing. Feel free to help yourself to it," replied Dooku. Ohnaka's pet had perched itself on Dooku's shoulder, only to receive a look that sent chills down the little creatures spine.

"If you need transport, the nearest planet is Florrum," said Ohnaka as his pet jumped off of Dooku's shoulder. "It's six parsecs away."

"Is it civilized?" asked Dooku.

"That depends on your definition of civilized," replied Ohnaka, "but you would certainly be more comfortable there than here. Vanqor is no place to be after dark." The pirate captain turned and headed for his ship, followed by the Count.

"Perhaps I should take you up on your offer," said Dooku.

"Very good," said Ohnaka. "Now all that's left to do is, uh, settle my fee."

"Fee?" Dooku asked, playing the part of a rich man who had never dealt with pirates before.

"Just a little something to cover my expenses," said Ohnaka. "It shouldn't be a problem for someone so obviously wealthy, as yourself."

Dooku calmly tried to cover his light sabers. "I'd be happy to compensate you for your services."

"That's it boys!" said Ohnaka. "We are going home!"

Just as the pirates left, Oriana woke up from her painfully unconscious state. She watched the circular ship take off with Dooku aboard, before standing up and heading for the cave. The entrance was caved in, by Dooku, obviously. There was a chance Obi-Wan and Anakin were still alive inside. Ignoring the slight pain that shot through her joints every time she moved, she got to work moving rocks using the force, trying to uncover the entrance.

As she began painstakingly removing rocks and boulders carefully, a thought occurred to her. She was still alive. It made her pause for a moment. Count Dooku was known throughout the Republic Fleet for his ruthlessness towards his enemies, especially Jedi. He had even put a price on their heads. So why leave her alive? Were all the stories she had heard wrong? Was there something he wanted from her in return for sparing her?

Something didn't add up, and while she was determined to find out, she realized that any chances of doing so were long gone with pirates. She looked back at the spot where she had last seen the ship Dooku had boarded. She could only hope that sometime in the near future she would find out.

* * *

Ahsoka arrived a short while later to find an exhausted Oriana trying hard to uncover the entrance to the cave. Captain Rex and Commander Cody were with her. Oriana was so tired that she was no longer able to remove rocks using the force, she was removing them by hand.

"Oriana! Are you okay?" Ahsoka asked after they found her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Oriana breathlessly. "Master Obi-Wan and Skywalker are trapped."

"Leave that to us," said Rex. "We'll get them out."

They managed to blast the entrance wide open, and out stumbled Obi-Wan and Anakin, choking on poison gas."

"Master!" both Padawans cried. Both Masters were coughing and gasping for breath, as toxic gas was being released into the air.

"Looks like I got here just in time," said Ahsoka.

"What do you mean 'just in time'?" asked Anakin.

"You were in very big trouble," said Ahsoka.

"Trouble? We were simply searching for Count Dooku," said Obi-Wan. Oriana simply shook her head, still recovering from her attempt to free them from the cave.

"Yeah," said Anakin. "We had the situation well under control, my little Padawan."

"Oh, I see. So which part of the situation did you have under control?" asked Ahsoka. "The blocked entrance? The poison gas? The gundark behind you? Or, Master Kenobi, your exhausted Padawan trying to get you out?"

"Wait, gundark?"

"Oh, you mean the one that's too far away to worry about?" asked Obi-Wan. Sure enough, they could see a large red-skinned gundark stomping through the caves towards the coves entrance.

"Block the entrance!" ordered Ahsoka. The clones shot at the roof of the cave causing it to cave in, caging the gundark.

"There's still Dooku to deal with," said Anakin.

"You let him get away?" said Ahsoka.

"No, not get away, exactly, just..." Anakin trailed off. Ahsoka gave him a look, and he turned to Obi-Wan for assistance. "Chime in, any time."

"Oh no," said Obi-Wan with a chuckle. "I'm enjoying this far too much."

* * *

Aboard the Republic cruiser, the four Jedi received a transmission from Mace Windu and Yoda concerning Dooku's capture by the pirates. Oriana already knew that Dooku really was with them, but she covered up her thoughts and feelings well and said nothing of the sort.

"His only stipulation is that you arrive unarmed," said Mace.

"Unarmed?" said Anakin.

"We know very little about these pirates," said Obi-Wan. "We maybe walking blindly into what could very well be a hostile situation."

"We can't let Dooku slip through our fingers again," said Mace.

"If I may be so bold, Masters," said Oriana. "I believe these pirates will use Jedi to triple their payment. After all, Jedi are the official Generals of the Republic Fleet and are crucial to the Republic's army. However, if two Padawans go, they might think that they are not worth enough and just get payment for Dooku, if he really is there. Perhaps Ahsoka and I could go."

"No, not Ahsoka," said Anakin.

"What? Why not?" asked Ahsoka.

"Count Dooku is dangerous," said Anakin. "You're not ready to face him yet."

"And I don't think you are either, Oriana," said Obi-Wan.

"Master, if Dooku is being held there, then they have to be holding him fairly securely, or they wouldn't have risked contacting us, especially if there is any chance that Dooku could escape. If Dooku really isn't there, then we have nothing to worry about." Obi-Wan carefully ran his hand through his hair. A nervous gesture he had developed as soon as he had started growing his hair out. He could see what Oriana was saying, but it was still so dangerous.

"Skywalker and Oriana, go to Florrum, they will," said Master Yoda. Oriana was surprised to hear the small Jedi Master speak up concerning the matter. Obi-Wan was ready to reject, but Mace stopped him.

"We don't have time to argue, report back as soon as you arrive," said Mace. Oriana and Anakin looked at each other. Anakin wanted to go simply because this was an opportunity to see Dooku behind bars. Oriana had entirely different reasons.

Why didn't he kill her?

* * *

Oriana and Anakin took his ship, _Twilight_, to Florrum. With neither of them carrying any weapons to protect themselves, they were on their highest guard. They landed quietly, but as the got off their ship, they found themselves completely surrounded by blaster wielding Weequey pirates when one of them approached them with a scanner. When it showed up negative for any weapons, he told them to follow him inside where they would meet Ohnaka Hondo.

"Welcome to you both," said Ohnaka. "Can I offer you something to drink?"

"No thank you," said Oriana as he passed them a drink any way. "Congratulations on your capture of Count Dooku. Very impressive."

"Yes, it was," said Ohnaka. "Even a Sith Lord is no match for my warriors." Most were drunk, like Ohnaka, or passed out. "He put up quite a fight," he continued waving his hands around in exaggerated motions. "Blasters, cannons, that glowy thing, voom voom..."

"You mean a light saber?" asked Oriana.

"That's it," said Ohnaka. "I don't need to tell you, but those things can do some damage. Carved up some of my best men pretty good 'fore I could get the jump on him." Anakin saw Ohnaka's pet holding his light saber, and he immediately concluded Ohnaka had found it and taken it. Oriana knew otherwise.

"And how exactly did you get the jump on him?" asked Anakin. "With this?" He used the force to snatch his light saber from the little lizard monkey's grip. Every drunkard in the room raised a blaster at him until the weapon was safely back in the little creature's hands.

"We have no interest in disagreeing with you," said Oriana. "All we want is to confirm you have Count Dooku, and we'll leave."

"I will arrange a meeting," replied Ohnaka.

* * *

It was strange for Oriana to see Count Dooku held in a pirate's cell suspended by a force field. Anakin had dreamed of seeing the Count like this, so he took great pleasure from this sudden turn of events.

"Look how the mighty Sith Lord has fallen," said Anakin. Oriana said nothing, merely looked at him. Her question for him ringing in her head over and over again. She remained silent. Dooku could sense, however, what she wanted to ask him. He smiled internally. He had her.

"This place really suits you Count," Anakin continued.

"It wasn't so long ago that you, yourself, were in similar surroundings," said Dooku, "on my ship."

"Yeah, but now I'm free, and you're not," said Anakin.

"I'm confident the situation will rectify itself," said Dooku as he turned from Anakin to Oriana. "Soon."

"Soon, you'll be brought to trial," said Oriana finally, "and most likely spend a very long time in a cell very much like this one."

"And that's if you're lucky," said Anakin.

"Oh, my naïve young Jedi," said Dooku. "You mustn't be overly optimistic if you think these Weequey's plan to let you leave this planet."

Anakin laughed. "Their planet hopping thieves looking for a quick score. They have no interest in picking a fight with Jedi."

"They are devious and deceitful, and most importantly, stupid," said Dooku. Oriana stared at the Count for a moment before turning to leave.

"Come on Master Skywalker," she said.

"You underestimate them at your own peril..." Dooku whispered. "Oriana."

* * *

"I don't know about you," said Anakin, "but I could use some rest."

"Master Skywalker," said Oriana. "I think this could still be a trap. Let's just contact Master Kenobi and get this over with."

"You're not worried about Dooku are you?" asked Anakin.

"No, it's these pirates," said Oriana. "I think they're up to something."

"Jedi, now that your business is complete we invite you to join us in the grand hall for a banquet," said one of Ohnaka's right hand men. "And a true Weequey banquet is not one to be missed."

"We'll think about it," said Anakin.

"We need to make contact with the Republic," said Oriana.

"Indeed," he replied. "You are still invited to join us."

Aboard the ship, she and Anakin contacted Chancellor Palpatine. "No question they have Dooku. Send the ransom," said Oriana.

"He is being securely held then?" asked Palpatine.

"Yeah," laughed Anakin. "And very cranky about it."

"Good, Senator Kharrus and Representative Binks will be dispatched immediately," said Palpatine. Oriana and Anakin joined the pirates in their banquet, quietly promising to be extra careful with whatever they were given.

"Now, can I persuade you to join us on a drink?" asked Ohnaka. "It's a tradition, in the name of friendship."

"All right," said Oriana, "but nothing alcoholic for me. I'm underage."

"Bring our guests some refreshments," said Ohnaka.

_I have a very bad feeling about this..._

_

* * *

_

Oriana woke up next to Anakin, much to her chagrin. Her head ached a little and her movements were sluggish. Anakin was still asleep, and Oriana was quick to realize that they were handcuffed and tied together. As she studied her surroundings, she noticed that Anakin wasn't the only one she was tied to.

"Good morning," she said. He merely stared at her for a moment before speaking.

"I helped your metabolism deal with the drugs a little faster," said Dooku.

"Why?"

"You have a question for me, don't you?" he asked back.

"Yes... I do..." she said a little sheepishly. She hadn't really bothered to hide it from him. "Why didn't you kill me on Vanqor?"

"Perhaps because you were simply not worth the effort," he replied. Such a statement would have elicited an angry retort from Anakin, but Oriana was different. She merely looked away, seeing the truth to his words. Everything she had done up to this point had been miniscule in the war efforts. Perhaps she wasn't worth killing.

Dooku smiled as he could sense her conflicted emotions. This was turning out to be easier than he thought. She was just as easy to manipulate as Anakin was. Perhaps this would be the opportunity he needed to ensnare her permanently.

Anakin woke up sometime later. "What happened?"

"We were drugged apparently," said Oriana.

"Why would they risk losing the ransom?" asked Anakin.

"I was right from the beginning," said Oriana. "They _are_ trying to triple their payment. Ahsoka should have come with me. Two Padawans wouldn't have meant much to them."

"A shrewd observation," said Dooku. "It seems the Jedi Council is not as smart as you, Oriana."

"Oh great," said Anakin. "It's you."

"I did warn you these pirates are devious," said Dooku. "You'll notice our shackles are bound together. I have tried to separate us, to no avail."

Anakin, now standing along with Oriana, grew more frustrated with every word that came out of Dooku's mouth. "It's bad enough we have to share the same cell," he said, "but could you spare me the sound of your constant chatter?"

"Master Skywalker," said Oriana, holding him back.

"And while I hold my tongue, the two of you will devise a brilliant strategy for getting off this godforsaken planet."

"Yes!" both Oriana and Anakin said together.

"Excellent."

* * *

"Well, I'm not sure what to do," said Oriana. "How about you two?"

"I'm working on it," said Anakin. Count Dooku resisted the urge to roll his eyes. As smart as Oriana seemed to be, perhaps she still needed some work.

"Allow me," he said as he approached the door. Using the Force, he telekinetically lifted a plate of food that one of the guards had left behind. Anakin and Oriana watched intently, curious as to what the Count would do next.

"Don't you think our priorities should be escape first, eat second!" said Anakin. Ignoring Anakin, the Count gently guided the plate away from the table before lifting the knife into the air and dropping the plate.

"Master Skywalker," said Oriana. "Please, we need to get out." Dooku couldn't help but smile. There was hope for her manners yet.

Anakin glared at his master's new Padawan. He was about as pleased to be stuck with her as he was about Count Dooku. He had been jealous of her and all the time she spent with his former Master. Palpatine had even suggested she was trying to steal Obi-Wan from him.

Despite that, however, he would not let anything happen to her. Obi-Wan probably would never forgive him for it.

Dooku inserted the knife into the slot, and the door opened. "Well done, if I do say so myself," he said.

"Very impressive," said Oriana. She wasn't sure if she had meant it sincerely or sarcastically. Anakin said nothing as they followed the Sith Lord out of the cell. After following him for several minutes, however, Anakin could not be silent any longer.

"We do know where we're going, don't we?" he asked.

"I don't know," said Oriana. "Do we know?"

"Quiet!" Dooku ordered her before he knocked out one of Ohnaka's men. The poor fellow happened to be on his way to guarding the three that had just knocked him out. "I was brought this way when I was captured. It was open then."

"Hey! I found the door key," whispered Anakin.

"This is the way to the hangar," said Dooku as he lead them to a door.

"Yes, but," said Oriana unsurely. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"The key works!" said Anakin.

"Is it safe?" Oriana asked again.

"Of course it is."

* * *

They were back in their cell almost as quickly as they had gotten out. Anakin was hardly happy about it. Oriana was disappointed to be back to point A, but still had hope they could get out. Ohnaka stalked around them like a jaguar targeting prey.

"What were we thinking?" asked Anakin. "Following a Sith Lord." Oriana merely shook her head at Anakin. Ohnaka let out an exaggerated sigh.

"What to do, what to do? I don't _want_ to kill you... per se. In fact, you seem like decent people, even you Count, and especially you, Oriana." He got a little closer to her, as if to prove his point. When Dooku suddenly stood between them, almost protectively, Ohnaka backed off. Oriana and Anakin looked at the Count suspiciously, Oriana's eyes wider than dinner plates, and Anakin's narrowed in a glare. It was very out of character for him.

Count Dooku, however, was merely trying to win Oriana's trust. He wanted her to join his cause, and every little thing helped, and as cold and cruel as he was, it disgusted him even more that a creature of such low class, a Weequey, to try to seduce a human woman. This solidified his determination to bring human domination to the Galaxy.

"This is just business," continued Ohnaka, "and once I get my money, we can go back to being friends. It's very simple. Now try not to complicate things by breaking out again."

"What the hell was that?" shouted Anakin. Oriana had not been able to peel her eyes away from the Count since he had stood between her and Ohnaka.

"It was disgusting to see that scum looking at a woman like that," said Dooku as if it were obvious. Oriana felt her face get hot, realizing the stupid thoughts that were crawling through her subconscious. She was a woman, she told herself. It was only natural for such to go through her mind when a man does something like that. She just had to let go of those stupid natural reactions and forget it.

"Come on," she muttered, clearly embarrassed for herself. "We've got to get out of here before the Republic arrives with the ransom."

"For once," said Dooku, secretly smirking to himself, "I agree with you."

Oriana tried something a little different from what Dooku had tried. She didn't like manipulating the simple minded, but they had to escape some how. However, security had been beefed up since their first escape. So they had to be a little more careful.

She stood at the door and looked at the guard. With a slight gesture, she spoke to him. "You do not want to stand guard."

"I-I do not want to stand guard," he repeated.

"You want to deactivate the cell bars and go out drinking," she continued.

"I want to deactivate the cell bars and go out drinking." He had no problem with this since it was partly true. He didn't want to stand guard. He wanted to go out drinking. So, he deactivated the cell bars and left.

"Hey, not bad," said Anakin.

"Oh yes, most impressive," said Dooku. "It's good to see that Master Kenobi is learning from his past teaching mistakes." Anakin glared at Dooku. Suddenly Oriana lost it on both of them.

"All right, do you two want to get out of here or not?" she hissed loudly. Both men were stunned to silence at her sudden outburst and nodded numbly. "Okay then, I know this is going to be hard, but if you two could get along for maybe a few minutes, we might have a chance of getting out of here. Think we can deal with that?"

It finally occurred to Dooku that this woman was trying to order him around, and he did not take kindly to that. "I do not answer to you."

"Fine, then we can sit here and fight," she said. Dooku snarled at her. "Fighting isn't going to get us out of here, all right. Let's just try to get along for a short while and as soon as we're out, you and Anakin can go at it all you want."

Without waiting for any argument, she walked off, almost dragging both stunned men with her. Anakin had nothing more to say, and Dooku was silently fuming.

They got pretty far before they were discovered, which was ironic, but it also said how much Oriana had the two men on her leash. They were close to getting out when they ran into trouble.

"Hey!"

"I think we should run now," said Anakin. They ran past some cargo, and Dooku was smart enough to try and block the path with it. The alarm was going off, and more and more of Ohnaka's men were hunting them down.

Anakin kicked down a door that lead to the outside. "Now to get beyond that wall," said Oriana.

"Let's go!" shouted Anakin. They quickly got up and Anakin grabbed a pole, intending to pole vault over it. Only Anakin managed to get a hold on the edge. Ohnaka's men began firing from below, and Oriana decided to try and swing both her and Dooku onto the edge of the wall, but that ultimately failed when a laser broke the cord binding them together. Oriana caught Dooku as he fell. Anakin nearly lost his grip from the sudden jolt.

"Hey! What are you guys doing?" asked Anakin. He tried with all his effort to pull himself as well as his female partner and his hated enemy up with him. "You're too heavy! I can't... do it... Drop Dooku!"

The laser fire suddenly stopped. Ohnaka stood over Anakin as he let out a sigh. "I guess this means we won't be friends," he said.

* * *

Anakin was furious, and Oriana was disappointed with herself. The only bright side to any of this was that the three of them were finally separated. Oriana let out a defeated sigh before looking up at Anakin.

"We have to find a way out of here before Senator Kharrus and JarJar arrive with the ransom, or we'll look like fools," she said.

"I think it's time to lose the dead weight," said Anakin as he approached the Count. Dooku returned Anakin's glare with one of his own.

"Master Skywalker," she said putting her hand on Anakin's shoulder. Just then, the door to their cell opened and three of Ohnaka's men walked in.

"You," the first one said pointing at Anakin, "come with us. Ohnaka wants a word with you." Anakin got up and exited the cell. The three didn't follow him though, they were confident that he would not try to run off and leave his partner behind. Anakin wouldn't dare leave Oriana.

"All right," said the first to Oriana. "Don't move."

She did as she was told as the Weequey pirate brought his hand up and injected sedatives into her shoulder. She fell to the floor with a thud, and Anakin, who had seen, tried to get back in to help her.

"Hey! What did you do to her?"

"Ohnaka's orders," he replied. "She'll be fine. Now let's go."

Anakin was lead away, but not before he yelled at the Count.

"If you do anything to her, I'll kill you! I swear I'll kill you!"

As soon as the boy was out of ear shot, the Count smiled and replied. "Oh don't worry, I won't do anything. She'll do it all herself."

* * *

JarJar and four clones were the only survivors when some of Ohnaka's treacherous men shot down the ship. They returned and had stolen the spice before JarJar and his men managed to get it back. Now, they were trying to deliver the spices to Oriana and Anakin, but were cut off by the pirates and some tanks of theirs. The clones hid behind some of the boulders on the terrain while Representative Binks headed out to try and negotiate.

JarJar stood before the leading tank. The man driving it peered over the hull and glared at the Naboo Gungan.

"What are you supposed to be?" he asked.

"Mesa Representative Binks," said JarJar. "Mesa comin' to deliva' de spicin'."

"Where's the army Turk reported?" the first driver asked one of the others.

"Dunno," he replied. "Let's fry this one and look around."

"No, if he's a Representative," said the first. "He might be worth something as well. You! Representative Bink! We'll take you to you're Jedi friends so then you can, uh, negotiate."

"Okie day," said JarJar as he climbed aboard the tank. He slipped and fell onto the driver. The tank spun out of control and hit one of the other tanks, causing it to crash into the nearby power lines, thoroughly knocking out the power.

Inside, this gave Dooku the opportunity he had been looking for to escape. The door opened easily, and using his cuffs, he strangled the guard standing outside.

Meanwhile Anakin was being tortured when the power went off. He used the force to snatch his saber and cut his bonds. Before anyone could blink, he had his light saber at Ohnaka's throat and carefully dragged him towards the door.

"What chance do you really have, Jedi?" Ohnaka asked Anakin. "Now let me go, and I might let you live."

"Approach us," said Anakin, thoroughly ignoring Ohnaka, "and he dies." He stepped carefully through the door only to hear the approach of two tanks.

"Looks like your armies were defeated, Jedi," said Ohnaka.

"Ani!" shouted JarJar. "Mesa have arrived with the spicin'!"

"That's great JarJar," said Anakin. "Now let's just hope that these pirates still have Dooku to trade."

Almost as if on cue, Ohnaka's ship lifted into the air and took off. No doubt, Dooku had taken off. "Ah well, guess that answers that question," said Anakin. "Captain."

"Yes sir!"

"Hold him. I'm going to go get Oriana."

"Yes sir!" Anakin handed Ohnaka over to the captain before running off towards the detention center. He got there and the door was open, but the cell empty. Only a dead Weequey and some empty shackles. Oriana was gone.

"Oriana? Oriana!" Anakin came to the only logical conclusion. Dooku had taken her.

* * *

"General Kenobi," said Admiral Yularen. "We've found a transmission I think you should see."

"Put it through," said Obi-Wan. Count Dooku appeared before him, and Obi-Wan knew immediately something had gone terribly wrong.

"If you can hear me, Master Kenobi," said the Count. "I think you should know that you do a very poor job keeping your Padawans safe. I had your former Padawan, Skywalker, and now, I have young Oriana." Panic filled the entire room. Oriana had been captured. "Rest assured I will take good care of her, but I promise you, rescuing her will be far harder than rescuing Skywalker was."

"Can you track the signal?" Obi-Wan asked.

"No sir," said Yularen. "It's coming from multiple signals, there's no way to locate it's exact location."

"Blast!" said Obi-Wan. "I knew she shouldn't have gone."

Ahsoka stood by Obi-Wan, watching the transmission play over and over again. Her good friend had been taken captive by Separatist forces, and there was very little chance of ever getting her back. She felt tears burn at the bottom of her eyes.

"Oriana..."

* * *

**TADA!**

**Dun dun dun duuuuuun! *insert dramatic music for emphasis***

**Holy Crap! This was the chapter I was waiting for. I don't know about all of you, but this was it! _Dooku Captured_ and _The Gungan General_ were the episodes that inspired this story, so getting to this part of the story was like finding the holy grail. I was so excited to get to this part of the story, I was practically jumping off the walls just to get this out! Another thing that inspired me to do this was Jurious's fanfic Eclipse. Fair warning if you're going to read it: it's dark and you might want to be Dooku fan.**

**PLEASE leave a review. They make me smile, and I want to hear your feedback. Your opinion, to be specific, about the direction this is going. Does it spark your interest even more? Do you think you might have to stop reading because it's so horrible?**

**You could even tell me to stop writing these stupid long notes. Whatever it is, tell me. Now.**

"**You _will_ click on that review button." *does the Jedi hand motion***

**Is it working? Lol!**


	5. Separatist or Republic?

_A thorn defends the rose, harming only those that would steel the blossom..._

This had to be the worst case scenario. Obi-Wan had warned that it was not a good idea for her to go. For a while, Anakin just stood there in the cell, rabidly going over everything that had happened since Obi-Wan and Oriana had rescued him from Dooku's Separatist Frigate. He tried to sort out his memories of any warning signs that Dooku had been interested in Oriana in any way, but the only thing that continued to replay in his mind was when Dooku had stood between her and Ohnaka.

He clenched his mechanical hand into a fist so hard there were sparks were blazing from the electrical circuits. With a quick pivot, he dashed out of the detention hall and out to the landing platform where the clones and JarJar were waiting for him, but he hardly noticed them as he pounced on Ohnaka.

For a split second, no one moved or blinked. They never saw it coming. The look on Anakin's face was absolutely frightening. One blink and his light saber burst to life as he loomed over the Weequay pirate captain.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now," he roared. Through the goggles on his face, Ohnaka looked upon this infuriated Jedi undeniably fearful. He stuttered, unable to answer Anakin's question.

"Ani?" asked JarJar. This was not the little boy he had met nearly eleven years ago. This was a man who had seen and done too much in the ways of death.

"Shut up!" shouted Anakin. "Oriana's gone! Dooku's abducted her!" He turned back to the frightened Weequay. "Now tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now!" He heard Ohnaka's men raise their blasters at him, but he didn't care. This man deserved to die as far as Anakin was concerned.

Thankfully, at that moment, another ship landed, carrying Obi-Wan and Ahsoka. The four clones, who had been stunned by Anakin's actions, finally came to, grabbed him, and pulled him off the pirate captain. Anakin struggled, unable to focus on anything other than the man he believed was responsible for Oriana's kidnapping.

"Master!" shouted a familiar voice. Anakin looked over at Ahsoka his rage subsiding for only a moment. The moment vanished, and the rage quickly returned.

"Dooku!" he shouted. "He's taken her! He took Oriana!"

"We know, Anakin!" Obi-Wan shouted back approaching him. "This isn't helping her!" Anakin stared at his former Master for a moment before he began to break down, going limp in the clones' grip.

"I'm sorry, Master," he said brokenly. "I'm so sorry."

"We'll get her back Anakin," said Obi-Wan putting a hand on Anakin's shoulder. "Don't worry, she can take care of herself." Anakin looked back at Ohnaka.

"Why did you have her sedated?" he cried.

"I had plans for her later," said the pirate captain. "It's not my fault he took her."

"We know," said Obi-Wan. He and another clone carried Anakin carefully onto the ship. A few other clones took care of Anakin's ship while they all headed for the nearby cruiser. Anakin was taken to the medical ward for his arm.

* * *

_Dry sand, two suns slowly setting on the horizon, Oriana had been there had been to this planet once before. She had been with Obi-Wan at the time. That had been in Mos Eisley, at Jabba's palace, but this was not it. There was nothing around for miles, but one little farm..._

_...owned by Owen Lars..._

_Oriana knew she was seeing something she might not live to see. It was a feeling she had. She couldn't explain it. The surrounding environment was not what had her attention. The reds, oranges, yellows of the sunsets, she didn't even notice._

_Her vision was securely locked onto two figures who were watching the glorious sunsets that Oriana had her back to. One of them, a young boy, about Oriana's age of 19, put his arm around the other comfortingly. The other was a young woman, dark brown hair and eyes. They were not romantically involved with each other, but they were undoubtedly close._

_The image changed, and the young man was wielding a blue light saber, a very familiar blue light saber against a man in a black suite, a cyborg. The boy was fighting for his life when another light saber lit up, a purple one, joined in, and the same young girl leaped into the fight._

"_Luke! Find Leia! All of you get out of here!" she shouted._

"_Luke?" asked Oriana even though she knew no one could hear or see her._

"_Tristin! What about you?" asked the boy named Luke._

"_Don't worry about me!" The man in black Force pushed the young woman into a pipe filling the room with gas. Luke got out, looked back at the room where his life long friend was now fighting for her life in his place._

_A moment later, Oriana found herself looking upon Tristin. She was being held down by what looked like a few clone troopers. Why would clones hold a Jedi as a prisoner? The man in black stood before her, his masked face could show no emotion, but the snarl on Tristin's face was unmistakable._

"_Tristin is your name?" a mechanical voice asked her._

"_Yes," she said, trying to calm her anger._

"_This light saber, where did you get it?"_

"_Obi-Wan gave it to me," Tristin replied. "It belonged to my mother."_

"_Your mother?"_

"_Yes, she was a Jedi, who _you _killed." The man let out a mechanical chuckle before kneeling down, getting down to her level._

"_You've seen it."_

"_What?"_

"_You've seen the power of the dark side," said the man in black. "Now use it! Take your light saber and strike me down."_

"_No," she replied. "Luke's gone, and that's all I was needed for."_

"_The Emperor might think otherwise," said the man in black. "You are the daughter of..."_

_The image changed again. Tristin was standing beside the man in black this. There were tears pouring over her face as she looked out from a window of a ship. The black void absorbing both Tristin's and Oriana's attention._

"_I still don't believe it..." whispered Tristin._

"_Obi-Wan killed your father," said the man in black. "Now he wants Luke to kill me, his own father, because he failed to do so."_

"_Luke doesn't know," said Tristin. It wasn't a question. "He doesn't know you're his father."_

"_No, he doesn't. It's up to you to tell him and to stop him."_

"_I can't... I can't..."_

_'What's going on?' Oriana finally interrupted everything. It all blended away into blackness. 'Wait! What's going on?'_

_The girl she had seen, Tristin, stood right before her, her dark eyes drilling Oriana's own. Tristin just stood there, dark eyes staring, piercing._

"_Oriana," she said suddenly. Startled, Oriana took a step back._

"_How... how do you know me?" Oriana asked. Tristin slowly let a small smile creep across her face, a genuine smile._

"_Because..." said Tristin. "You're my mother."

* * *

_

Oriana woke with start, sitting up straight before the vertigo forced her to lie back down. A medical droid, surprised by the sudden movement, hovered over her, concern laced in his mechanical voice.

"Are you all right?" it asked. "Your heart rate went up quite suddenly, and with such drugs still in your system, I was worried that the worst was happening."

"No," she said a little breathlessly. "No, I'm fine. Just a dream."

"A dream?" said a familiar voice. Oriana felt her blood go cold as she watched Count Dooku emerge from the shadows.

"Yeah," she said. Then it clicked. "Wait, where am I?" She saw his wrists, where, the last time she had seen him, there had been shackles.

"On a Weequay pirate ship headed for Serenno," he said, completely ignoring Oriana's obvious anxiety.. "Now tell me about this dream. Was it a vision?"

"What?"

"Was it a vision?"

"No!" she said sitting up, ignoring the dizziness. "I mean, yes, but... why are we headed for Serenno? Isn't that-?"

"My home planet? Yes," said Dooku. He could hear the confusion and panic in her voice. "I've stolen one of the Weequay, and I am taking you to my home planet of Serenno."

"But what about Master Skywalker?" Realization dawned on her face and panic laced itself through her entire body. "No." Her voice dropped to a breathless whisper as she backed up on the medical table against the wall.

"Master Skywalker, unfortunately, did not come with us," said Dooku. "He must be still on Florrum, possibly being executed." The thought of Anakin's execution put a small smile on the Count's face.

"No," she said a little louder.

"Ma'am, you need to calm down," said the medical droid as it reached for her. The sedatives hadn't fully worn off, and Jedi or not, it was dangerous for anyone to get so riled up with drugs still in his or her system.

"No!" she shouted backing away from the droid.

"Listen to the medic," said Dooku. He began reaching for her with the Force to try to calm her down. "You were sedated on Florrum, and the drugs have not worn off yet."

Oriana felt the cold touch of the dark side touch her. The power there, all she could feel from it were hate and anger. She finally broke down into tears. "No!" she screamed as she telekinetically pushed Dooku into the wall and made a dash for the door.

Dooku reached for her tunic as she ran by, but he missed by millimeters. He calmly followed her out the door, raised his hand, and lightning flew from his finger tips.

Oriana felt the electricity jolt through her body, and she collapsed. Her face and limbs twitching from excess electricity shooting through her entire nervous system painfully. She let out a cry when she fell, and was now lying on the ground writhing in pain. Dooku would have enjoyed the sight, but instead he knelt down and picked her up.

"When I say calm down," he said. "I mean calm down." The darkness in his voice frightened Oriana, but the pain running through her body expelled the fear. She just wanted to be rid of the pain. He felt her tense at his touch. He smirked as she tried to move away from his touch, but doing so was both painful and pointless. Without much effort, he picked her up and carried her back to the medical room. She struggled a little against both Dooku and the droid before finally succumbing to fatigue from both the drugs and the volts of electricity she received from Dooku.

Oriana could still feel his cold touch even after he had put her down. It sent painful chills down her spine, adding to the pain from his lightning. She had now learned first hand the power of the dark side. It frightened her. Fear was the path to the dark side, but it was also a natural reaction to something that was dangerous and threatening, and that was what she was feeling. The natural reaction to something that caused pain and possibly death. However, it not only caused pain, but she could feel the power behind it. The idea of having that power had crossed her mind, and that frightened her more then anything.

"Now, are you calm?" asked Dooku. Oriana's breath was still uneven, but not from panic.

"Why?" she asked breathlessly. "Why am I-? Why did you-?" She was so confused and frightened. The drugs weren't helping, and everything was becoming hazy.

"You are now in the custody of the Confederacy of Independent Systems," said Count Dooku. "As a prisoner of war, parliament will decide on your fate."

"No!" cried Oriana. "Master Kenobi, he will-"

"I'm afraid your dear Master does not know where you are, and you are already deep behind enemy lines," said Dooku rather bitterly. "I'm afraid that your rescue party may not be able to reach you."

Oriana shook her head, unable to believe any of it. Dooku unleashed a snarl, resisted the urge to smack the woman across the face, and turned to the medical droid. Oriana started crying out against everything.

"No! This can't be happening! No! No! No!"

"It's the drugs talking," said Dooku. "Make sure she doesn't hurt herself." With that said, he left the room. They still had some time before they would reach his home planet. Perhaps before then, she would reach her senses, and he could put his plan into motion.

Oriana lay on the medical table trying to clear her mind with tears continually streaming down her face. All she could focus on was Anakin leaving her in the cell. Something was telling her that he had no intention of coming back for her, and it wasn't the drugs. Something happened while she was unconscious, and the only person who could have done anything was Count Dooku. The thought sent chills down her spine.

The vision had also frightened her, if it was a vision and not a drug induced dream. She tried to take calm deep breaths. She couldn't stop the pain, but it eventually subsided, and she was able to focus on what was going on.

"The vision," she whispered to herself. "Focus on the vision." Her daughter, Tristin, she saw her daughter. What did Yoda say about visions of the future?

_"Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future."_

What did that mean? Did it mean that this girl she had seen, Tristin, was only her daughter, if she chose it to be so? And if she decided to have a child, who was the father?

The father... who could that be? There was no one that she could think of that she felt any attraction for. Her master, Obi-Wan, entered her mind, and she had to keep herself from laughing hysterically. Obi-Wan was far too loyal to the Jedi Order to do anything that seemed to betray it, and procreation was something along those lines. Not that bringing life into the galaxy was not the will of the Force, but the possibility of forming an attachment was not the Jedi way.

Slowly, the remnants of the drugs were finally wearing off, and she could feel the haze over her mind was also starting to clear. "I think I'm okay now," she said to the medical droid. "May I walk around?"

"I don't see why not," said the droid. "I was not told to keep you here."

"Thank you," replied Oriana.

"If you feel as though anything is wrong, you let me know," it said. Oriana nodded her understandingly and left. The hallway was empty, not that she expected anyone else to be on board other than herself and Dooku. She held herself tightly as she walked around the ship, trying to take in everything at once. She was afraid that if she focused on one thing, something inside of her would snap.

"Are you feeling better?" Oriana looked up to meet the deep brown eyes of Dooku.

"I was," she said as she backed up slightly.

"What do you have to fear from me?"

"You mean other than the fact that you are a Sith Lord and the fact that you can use lightning?" she asked. "Nothing at all."

"Good," said Dooku. "I'm glad." Oriana glared at him suspiciously.

Finally, after several minutes, she gathered up her courage. "Why... Why did you take me?"

Dooku's eyes softened. "I was hoping you would listen."

"What?"

"Were you ever told what happened on Geonosis?"

Oriana shook her head. "No, all I was told was that we lost a lot of life in that battle. No one told me anything."

"So, no one told you that the Jedi initiated this war," said Dooku.

Oriana's first reaction was surprise. Surprised that he would say such a thing about the very Order he was once a part of, or surprised that a small part of her actually believed him, she didn't know, but the surprise immediately dissipated and was replaced by fury.

"That's not true," said Oriana vehemently.

"How do you know? You weren't there nor did anyone tell you what happened," Dooku countered smoothly. Oriana closed her mouth and glared at him. She would have been able to defend against his lightning if she had her light saber, so she just kept herself backed against the wall. "Master Kenobi was caught spying on the Geonosians, encroaching on their sovereignty. Geonosian law demanded his execution, and when Skywalker and Senator Amidala tried to rescue him, they were also charged as spies and sentenced to death."

"The Jedi would never abandon their own," said Oriana understandingly. Dooku frowned, but continued.

"Indeed, and they tried to rescue their friends, and that was obstruction of Geonosian justice," said Dooku.

"Justice? How is _that_ justice?" asked Oriana.

"Geonosians are very distrusting of off-worlders," said Dooku. "Their laws are their rights and the Jedi were infringing on those rights. When the Republic sent in their clone troopers, it became an all out war. The Republic refuses to see the rights of these systems that have joined my cause. They refuse to see the Confederacy's independence, and that is the real cause of this war."

"That can't be true," said Oriana.

"Oriana," said Dooku, his voice full of compassion, "you're innocent and naïve. You've followed the Jedi Order your whole life, so I know how hard this must be for you to understand, but the Jedi are being used by the Republic."

"Used?"

"There is another Sith Lord," said Dooku. "He's controlling the Senate, and manipulating the Jedi."

"No!" said Oriana defiantly, trying her hardest not to believe any of it. "There's no way! The Council would have sensed it!"

"The dark side clouds their vision," said Dooku. "They didn't sense the Sith ten years ago, yet Qui-Gon Jinn is dead because of the Sith."

"No! You're lying," said Oriana, feeling tears pouring down her face. She was shaking her head trying to deny all of it but all she could think about were those strange feelings every time she looked over at Chancellor Palpatine. "No..." Slowly, the foundation that she had founded herself upon, the Jedi Order, was falling apart in front of her.

As she fell to her knees sobbing, Dooku knelt down in front of her, concern on his face, victory in his mind, and none of this would have happened if she was not as powerful as she was. If she wasn't as Force-sensitive as she was, she would not have believed anything he had told her. She knew that the Chancellor was the Sith Lord he spoke of. She had sensed it. "It-It's Chancellor Palpatine, isn't it?" said Oriana through her tears. Dooku nodded slowly. Oriana continued sobbing, feeling like she was losing everything. Dooku reached out and put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"This Sith is planning to turn the Republic into his Empire," said Dooku carefully. "We must stop him. You must join me."

Too distraught over being told such a shocking revelation, she threw her arms around him, unable to provide an answer to Dooku's question. Her naïve personality accepting him fully. Joining the Separatists or remaining with the Republic was far from her mind. Her friends, her family were all being manipulated by a Sith Lord, and something had to be done.

* * *

**Still like where this is going? Have I lost anybody?**

**Please leave a review. I'm thinking of putting a poll up concerning Tristin's father. I've almost decided on who it's going to be, but I'm not entirely sure. Should I put a poll up, or what?**

**Do you even care...?**


	6. Dinning with Dooku

_The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating..._

"Flex your fingers for me." Anakin had been taken to the medical ward almost as soon as they got back on the cruiser, at Obi-Wan's insistence of course. The man just wouldn't hear of anything else, even though Anakin was just as good with mechanics and could very well take care of the problems himself. Of course, that was probably why Obi-Wan insisted he go to the medical ward anyway.

Watching the procedure with concern, Ahsoka stood next to the droid, taking quick glances at her irritated and flat out angry Master. She had seen his reaction as he watched the recording they had received, and it only made things worse. She didn't understand why Master Obi-Wan even allowed Anakin to view it. At the very least, Obi-Wan should have made him wait until after his hand had been checked out by the medics, giving Anakin enough time to cool down and think things over. Instead, he watched the hologram right off the bat, getting him more infuriated then he needed to be.

Ahsoka could understand her Master's frustration, though. They were so close to catching Dooku, but all they managed to achieve was lose a wonderful Jedi to his clutches, and that was both embarrassing and depressing. Separatist leaders were probably laughing at them right now.

"If I ever get my hands on him, I'm gonna..." he trailed off angrily.

"Master," said Ahsoka. "What exactly happened down there?"

"I don't want to talk about it," said Anakin.

"Okay," said Ahsoka, not wanting to push her Master any further. The rest of the medical exam passed nearly silent. The only sounds that could be heard were the metallic and electronic noises from the medical droid.

"All right," it said. "You're good to go, please be more careful." Anakin resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He was a Jedi; he couldn't afford to be careful anymore. Jedi Knight and Padawan left the exam room quietly with Anakin flexing his mechanical hand and found Obi-Wan waiting just outside for both of them.

"Let's go report in," he said. "The High Council and the Chancellor will want to know what happened." They headed for the bridge where they met up with JarJar as well. The four of them stood around the holocom table. Mace Windu, Yoda, and Chancellor Palpatine appeared as blue images with grim and concerned faces. They told them everything; Ohnaka being betrayed by his own men, Senator Kharrus's death, Dooku's escape, and Oriana's capture.

"JarJar, I need you to return to Coruscant immediately," Palpatine ordered the Gungan representative.

"Yes, Chancellor," replied JarJar with a respectful bow. With that, he left for the landing dock for a transport to take him to Coruscant.

"Why would Dooku capture Oriana?" asked Palpatine.

"We're not sure either, sir," said Obi-Wan. "We can only speculate that he'll have her tried by the Separatist parliament and if they find her guilty, have her executed. He has nothing else to gain from her other than something to elevate his image among the Separatists."

"Let us hope that is not his intention," said Mace. "For now, we must prepare for the worst. Our spies will tell us what's going on, but as of right now, we have to go on as though she is dead."

"What?" cried out Ahsoka. "There must be someway to save her!"

"A full scale invasion to save one person will not save her, nor will it do anything for the war," said Mace. "We will try to save her if we can, but right now, it's not in our hands. We'll have to wait and see."

"But-!"

"Please! Excuse my Padawan," shouted Anakin. Ahsoka looked at her Master who had that look on his face that made her stop. Suddenly, Mace and Yoda turned around momentarily before turning around, looking back at Skywalker.

"Skywalker and Ahsoka, return to your cruiser immediately and take your fleet to Quell. We just received a distress call from Secura. They're being attacked, and they need reinforcements," said Mace.

"Yes, sir," said Anakin. "Come on Ahsoka."

Both Obi-Wan and Ahsoka could feel Anakin's barely concealed anger. It felt like standing next to a blazing bonfire, and you know there's no way to put it out. Ahsoka followed cautiously and Obi-Wan watched them leave before turning back to Yoda and Mace. Palpatine smiled and excused himself.

"If you'll excuse me," he said. "I must return to the wonders of politics." The others nodded in respect as Palpatine's image disappeared.

"I'm worried about Anakin," said Obi-Wan. "He nearly tried to kill Ohnaka after he found out Oriana had been taken by Dooku. It took all four of the clones that were with JarJar to get him off of the pirate."

"Alarming, that is," agreed Yoda.

"We probably should not have allowed Oriana to go," said Mace. "The only thing we can do at this point is keep a close eye on him."

"Yes, Master," said Obi-Wan.

"In the meantime, Anakin may need help, so stay alert, and be his backup if necessary," said Mace. Obi-Wan nodded and the images of the two Master Jedi vanished. Obi-Wan let out a loud exasperated sigh as he ran his hand through his hair. Things were getting steadily more complicated in this war, as if they weren't complicated enough.

_"What if I told you that the Senate of the Republic was now under the control of the Dark Lord of the Sith?"_

Obi-Wan felt a chill run down his back. The idea that Dooku would use that very same thing against Oriana frightened him. Oriana was still young, innocent, and impressionable. That made her more then vulnerable to persuasion, and Dooku was a master at it. But what was he worried about? That she would believe it? Or that Dooku may have been right from the beginning?

"Oriana," he muttered, "please, don't do anything without consulting your feelings." Perhaps Anakin had been right from the beginning. It wasn't a good idea to bring a Padawan learner into the war.

* * *

Palpatine was sitting at his desk when Padmé walked in. He could see she was apprehensive for Anakin and Oriana, whom she heard had been sent to retrieve Dooku. Her anxiety had finally risen to a level that was just too uncomfortable for her to bear any longer.

"Chancellor, any word from JarJar and Senator Kharrus?" she asked almost as soon as she walked in. Her distress only worsened at the sight of Palpatine's grim face.

"I'm afraid we were betrayed by some of Ohnaka's men," said Palpatine. "Some of Ohnaka's men betrayed him and attacked JarJar and Kharrus's ship. Senator Kharrus is dead, Dooku managed to escape, and he took Oriana with him."

"Oriana's been captured?" said Padmé.

"I'm afraid so, and the Jedi are fearing the worst," said Palpatine. "They think that Dooku will put her on trial especially now that word is out that a Jedi has been captured by him. He'll probably use this opportunity to absolutely convince his people to his cause by letting them decide her fate."

"How could he do this?" asked Padmé. "She's just a nineteen year old girl."

"You forget she is a Jedi. She knows more in the ways of death then most girls her age," said Palpatine.

"That's not the way of the Jedi," said Padmé. "You and I both know that."

"Most people do," said Palpatine. "However, the Separatists hate the Jedi, and some of them believe that they are the ones that initiated this war in the first place."

"What? That's not true!"

"Some may have been lied to, others may just see it that way."

For a moment, Padmé looked down trodden. She and Oriana had been on wonderfully friendly terms since they had met during the rescue from the Malevolence. Oriana was a bright young woman who had a little bit of interest in politics, but not enough to really get too involved. She had even discussed some of her opinions with Padmé.

Then, an idea struck. "Chancellor, do you think perhaps if we present an olive branch of peace to the Confederacy, that we might be able to get her back alive and open negotiations to end this war?"

"Maybe, but do you really think the Senate will go for it? We have tried to extend peaceful resolutions towards the Confederacy, and all attempts have been rejected thus far," said Palpatine. "One young Jedi won't make much difference."

"Don't you think it's worth a shot?" asked Padmé.

"Well, my dear," replied Palpatine. "If you feel that strongly about it, I don't see why you can't try. The info will be presented to the Senate and they will decide on what will be done."

"Thank you, Chancellor," said Padmé, her smile lighting up the room before she turned to leave. However, as she left, the Chancellor frowned causing darkness to creep its way back into the room. He had not given Dooku orders to try to kidnap the young Padawan. Perhaps his apprentice was captivated by the young woman. There was no doubt she was very attractive, but to let such thoughts cloud judgement like that was unacceptable.

He would no doubt be having a very serious conversation with his apprentice later.

* * *

The sun was setting when they landed. A light mist blanketed the landscape of Serenno, adding to Oriana's already gloomy state. She had been practically glued to Dooku since he had told her about the Sith Lord and the supposed Jedi induction of the war. Her eyes held no light; she had gone completely blank. Her eyes were downcast even as they stepped out of the stolen Weequay ship and were incased in Count Dooku's grand estate. She hardly noticed the grand design of the doors and the beautiful tapestries on the walls; the velvet curtains over the windows and the luxurious carpets and wooden floors.

There were droids taking care of the grounds as maids and servants, almost all of them human, took care of the house inside. An older gentleman, one Oriana would have presumed to be the butler if she were at all focused, approached them both as soon as they were inside

"Welcome home, my lord," he said.

"Thank you, Edmund," replied Dooku. Oriana clung to Dooku's sleeve, not wanting to be parted from the only person giving her any sort of comfort at the moment. "This young lady has had a rough day. Please, take her to the guest room and have her rest a little."

"Yes, my lord," said Edmund.

"No," muttered Oriana, alerting the two men that she was, in fact, alert.

"No what?" asked Dooku. Oriana gripped his sleeve a little tighter.

"Please, no," she said as she shook her head slightly as if to emphasize the point. Dooku pried her off his sleeve and held her by her shoulders as he looked into her eyes. She stared back, but not really focused.

"Just for a short while," said Dooku kindly. "You and I must prepare for dinner, and you need rest immediately. You've been through a lot today." Oriana blinked before nodding her head. Dooku gently pushed her towards Edmund who took her hand, and gently led her away.

Dooku felt a smirk stretch across his face. Things were going almost exactly according to plan. There was no doubt his master would soon find out about her abduction, however, and would in fact confront him about it, but he was ready for that. He _would_ have Parliament decide her fate, and by then, she would _ask_ to join their side.

Oriana was gently guided into the care of an elderly woman named Amethyst. She had a kind face and a gentle aura. The moment she saw Oriana, she knew this woman was not at all well. Edmund quickly explained to Amethyst that Oriana needed some rest, and then would need some preparation before dinner.

"Come, my dear," said Amethyst. "You look like you could use some rest."

Oriana didn't reply. She obediently followed Amethyst, but not before she looked back at the Count who was currently discussing business with Edmund. She turned back around and followed Amethyst up some stairs and down a few empty halls before entering a room with a grand queen sized bed on one end of the room and a large bureau made of dark wood. The room also had two large windows looking out over the estate the left one serving as a door to the large balcony just outside. A set of deep red curtains gently trimming their gold frame.

There was a small door by the bed leading to a bathroom, and the closet on the other side was a large walk-through for any number of clothes and dresses, if Oriana had anything other then her Jedi cloak, tunic, pants and boots. The cloak had been whisked away earlier by one of the younger maids. Amethyst carefully led her to the bed.

"All right dear," she said. "Let's get you into some sleeping clothes so you can rest while we get your bath and things ready."

Oriana nodded her understanding. There was a lot on the young woman's mind, like since there was a Sith Lord controlling the Senate, did that make it okay to join forces with a man who everyone knew was a Sith in order to take the other down? She was so confused as to what to do, having her whole foundation crumble beneath her, that it seemed almost impossible to her on how to decide.

As she lay in bed quietly, she thought about what she had been told by Dooku a little more carefully. For the fact that the Jedi had initiated the war, she would need more evidence before she would really believe any of it. The Jedi were peacekeepers. They would never, at least, intentionally start a way. Definitive proof would be needed, and she would not try to defend them with what little knowledge she had. As for Chancellor Palpatine being a Sith Lord, it explained a lot, actually. The feeling she would get anytime she was around the beloved Chancellor was cold and dark, despite his friendly disposition. There was just something off about the man. What she didn't understand was that if she could sense it, why couldn't anyone on the High Council sense it?

So which side to join? It seemed like the entire galaxy was against her and the entire Jedi Order. There were plenty of star systems that would believe that the Jedi had initiated the war, and to make matters worse, if it were brought to anyone's attention that the Jedi had been manipulated by a Sith Lord this entire time, the Order would be seen as unreliable and discredited. Their title as the galaxy's peace keepers was being slowly taken from them. It really brought to light how pointless and destructive this war really was.

"The Jedi should have just stayed out of it," Oriana muttered to herself as she lay on the bed. There were enemies and friends on both sides of the conflict, so how could she choose one side or the other?

"Oriana, dear?" said Amethyst sometime later. "Your bath is ready. Let's get you cleaned up for dinner."

* * *

"My lord," said Edmund as he approached the Count. "We're receiving a transmission from our highly protected line."

"Put it through," he said. He held out his comlink as a blue image of his Master, Darth Sidious, appeared.

"Darth Tyranus," he said. "I do not remember giving any orders concerning the capture of young Oriana."

"No, Master," said Dooku. "You did not order it."

"Then why, may I ask, did you take her?" asked Sidious.

"One less Jedi to worry about," replied Dooku. If _parliament finds her guilty, of course._

"So you do plan on eliminating her," said Sidious.

"Yes," he lied. "Did you think otherwise, Master?"

"I had a feeling you intended to use her some how," said Sidious. "She is too tainted by the Jedi Order to become a Sith. Destroy her immediately."

Such doubt in his persuasive abilities angered Dooku, but only for a moment."Forgive me, Master," he said, "but I'm afraid that Parliament will have to decide. Many of our representatives already know that I have captured her and are expecting a trial for her. I am certain, however, they will find her guilty."

"And if they do not?" asked Sidious.

"Then I will find a way to destroy her without the Parliament knowing," he replied.

"Good," said Sidious. "I will await news of her death."

The line was cut, and Dooku resisted the urge to snarl in anger. His Master knew nothing of his plans, which was good, but it was almost insulting that he had once been fooled by such a man. He was so overconfident in his abilities, but he was always calculating his enemies with deadly precision.

There was a knock just after his conversation. Dooku opened the door to find Amethyst and a flustered Oriana in a beautiful red gown with black lace trimming the hem. It was a simple gown he had picked out, and it looked lovely on her.

"My lord," said Amethyst. "I brought Oriana here as requested."

"Thank you, Amethyst," he replied with a gracious smile. "That will be all." The older woman smiled and bowed, excusing herself. Oriana stood before him, stiff and uncomfortable. "Relax, you're only in danger if you do something foolish."

"I see," said Oriana. Dooku pleasantly held out his arm for her to take. She hesitated in taking it, but realized that rejecting him in anyway wasn't intelligent. She took his arm and let him guide her down the hall toward the dinning room.

"What's wrong?" asked Dooku, noticing the distance she between them. "When we arrived, you refused to be parted from me."

"I've had time to recollect myself," she replied.

"Still," he said suddenly pulling her close. "You're more nervous than you should be."

She blushed. "I'm not used to such close proximity," she replied.

"That's right," said Dooku. "The Jedi Order doesn't approve of romantic feelings."

"I never said-"

"You implied it, my dear," he said.

"Well, I didn't mean it like that," she said, almost letting go of his arm.

"My apologies," said the Count.

"Why are you apologizing? Why are you being so kind?" she asked. "We're on opposite ends of the conflict, and everyone knows you hate Jedi."

"Well, would you rather I stick you in a prison cell like I did for Skywalker?" he asked. Oriana shook her head fervently. "Good, then don't question me."

"Forgive me," she said softly. Dooku smiled, pleased by her subservient attitude. They arrived at the dinning room where there was a large beautiful carved wooden table that stretched throughout the length of the room. There were only two chairs and both were at just one end of the table. One was placed at the head, the other right next to it on the side, the right hand side to be precise. Edmund kindly pulled out their seats for them to sit when a battle droid came up and shackled her legs to the chair.

"You know I'm not going anywhere," she said.

"Yes," replied Dooku, "but I'd rather not waste energy trying to stop you from any pathetic attempts _should_ you try. So for now, you shall remain right there."

"I understand," she said. Of course, both of them knew that if she wanted to escape, she could have done so already, but to what end? To go back to an Order that had no idea that they were being manipulated by a Sith Lord was out of the question.

"I sense your turmoil," said Dooku as the servants presented their food. "You are trying to decide what to do."

"Yes," she replied, not bothering to hide her feelings.

"It doesn't matter what you decide," he said. "Parliament will decide your fate."

"I know," she said. "I want to believe that I still have some control."

"Understandable," he said. "Of course, if you were to ask to join us..." As he let the idea hang in the air, Oriana glared at him and said nothing more on the subject The rest of dinner was fairly quiet with both of them taking occasional glances at each other. Finally, as desert rolled around, Dooku broke the silence.

"You mentioned a dream when you came out of your drug induced state," he said. "Was it a dream, or perhaps a vision?"

Oriana blinked. She had all but forgotten the vision, the vision of her daughter, Tristin. She had seen her daughter with a boy named Luke, whom she had obviously grown up with. Did that mean that this Luke was her son? Or were they just close friends?

"Tell me about it," said Dooku. Oriana glared at him.

"How is that any of your business?" she asked. Dooku's stare became more intense.

"Tell me about it," he said a little more threateningly.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Visions of the future are hard to come by," said Dooku. "I want to know what you see."

"I saw..." she closed her eyes, accepting his control over the situation, and the vision came back to her almost as if she had seen it only moments ago, "a young girl... she... she is my daughter."

"A daughter?" said Dooku. "What else?"

"I saw a cybernetic Sith Lord dressed completely in black," she continued. "He was after one of my daughter's friends, a boy named Luke. My daughter gets captured by the Sith Lord in order for Luke to escape. It didn't show me much of anything else."

"Was the Sith Lord's name ever mentioned?" asked Dooku.

Oriana shook her head. "No, the only other name that I heard was Leia, and I never saw her."

Dooku thought for a moment as desert was placed in front of them. "It seems you are destined to have a child, specifically a girl," said Dooku. "You're dream didn't reveal who the father could be, did it?"

"No," she replied. "Why would it?"

"Interesting," said Dooku. "I wonder..."

* * *

After dinner, the shackles on Oriana's feet were removed. She allowed Dooku to take her back to her room, which she almost immediately regretted doing. The long dark hallways seemed to go on forever, and the paintings on the walls did not help. They were portraits of the Counts' past generations. She briefly wondered if his portrait was among them.

"Do you have a portrait?" she asked, desperate to break the eerie cold silence that had engulfed them.

"No, I do not," he replied.

"Ah," said Oriana as she continued to look around. She felt as though the people were watching her walk down their halls, as if her bad blood was contaminating their very air. It was very creepy. Oriana tried to relax into the Force, only to find the dark side waiting to immerse her.

"Have you thought about who the father could be?" Dooku suddenly asked. Oriana looked up at him, but he was not looking at her.

"Not really, no," said Oriana as she shook her head slightly.

Dooku felt a smirk stretch across his lips. "Really, no idea who it could be at all?"

"Well, the only person I could think of that I could have any affections for was Master Kenobi, and I think we both know that would never happen."

Dooku's smirk was gone, but only for a moment. "So you have feelings for your Master."

"Of course," said Oriana. "How could I not care for my Master? ...Wait, you don't actually think that I'm going to have a child, do you? You said yourself that Parliament will decide my fate."

"You could still make a plea to join us," said Dooku. "You never did answer me when I asked you if you would join me. The Sith Lord controlling the Senate is slowly plotting not only the destruction of the Republic; he wants to annihilate the Jedi, and although I no longer agree with the Jedi, I do not want to see them all destroyed. Do you?"

Oriana felt her blood run cold again. He was reaching for her with the dark side. Without really thinking about it, she stepped away, trying to avoid that cold feeling.

"Stop it," she said putting up her defenses. He smirked at her knowingly. "I-I haven't decided, yet."

They had reached the room and were standing just outside the door. Oriana hesitantly looked up into the Counts face and was completely taken in by his eyes. She felt hypnotized and didn't notice his hand reach up and caress her cheek.

"I hope you make the right decision," he said softly before walking away.

Even long after he had gone, Oriana could not find the strength to move from that spot. All she could see were his eyes staring back into hers with an uncomfortable intensity. All she could feel was his hand gently touching her cheek. When she was finally able to pull herself out of the daze, she was embarrassed by how long she had been standing there, staring at nothing.

"What is wrong with me?" she asked herself. Shaking her head, she stepped into her room and sat down on her bed.

"_He wants to annihilate the Jedi..."_ She didn't know what was true and what wasn't anymore. All she knew was that she had to find definitive proof that Chancellor Palpatine was another Sith Lord, and if that meant cooperating with a Sith Lord to do so, then that was what she was going to have to do.

She was going to have to join the Separatists' side.

* * *

Maridun was a planet that had not aligned itself with either the Republic or the Separatists. An extremely neutral planet, Aayla Secura, Anakin, and Ahsoka had crash landed there. Anakin was in critical condition and the others had to leave him with Rex and find some intelligent life to help them. They found a colony of Lurmen where their only medic went with Ahsoka and the last clone trooper to get Anakin.

Aayla stayed behind with the Lurman's leader, Kaa. She was sitting in his pod-like home as he offered the drink.

"Here," he said. "It will restore your energy."

"Thank you," she replied. He turned away, and Aayla watched him. He had said that the Jedi are no peacekeepers. "I'm sure you are aware the Jedi did not initiate the clone wars. Our only intention is to end it and restore peace to the galaxy." She was desperate to defend what she truly believed in.

"What difference does it make who started the war and who only wants to end it?" he asked. "No side is free of fault. It takes two to fight."

"But isn't liberty worth fighting for?" she asked.

"Is it worth killing for?" he shot back. "Fighting for something doesn't necessarily mean you have to destroy everything in your path only. When you lay your arms down and pursue a cause of nonviolence can you make this claim to me that the Jedi are peacekeepers."

* * *

**There you go.**

**That last little bit from Kaa kind of hits the nail on the head. Fault implies that the person had meant for something to happen. It's just so perfect, and Oriana is one of the few good guys who actually knows the truth of that, which is why I put that in there. Oriana has chosen, in a way, her own side.**

**Next, Oriana's trial, and the one person who makes the difference.**


	7. Storm over Ryloth

_It is rough road that leads to the heights of greatness..._

It had been a blow to the Jedi Order to learn of Oriana's betrayal. Obi-Wan was heartbroken as he watched the blue image of his second Padawan declare the corruption of the Republic, denounce the Jedi Order, and ask to be allowed to join the Separatists. Then, just when things couldn't get any worse, Oriana, they heard, had been denied and executed.

For Obi-Wan's first Padawan, Anakin, the news had tripled his previously subdued anger. He blamed a lot of people for this sudden turn of events. Dooku, Ohnaka, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Mace, but he especially blamed Oriana herself. It was all her fault. She was the one who wanted to go down to Florrum. She allowed herself to get knocked out and taken. Then, she tries to join the very people who were against everything they stood for. How could she!

Since then, no one spoke much of Oriana. However, almost immediately after Oriana's death, entire fleets would just disappear. When they were found, there was nothing left of them but scrap metal. Rumors grew of a new Separatists weapon similar to the Malevolence. Then, something strange occurred. A Republic fleet, specifically, Kit Fisto's fleet, was attacked and left survivors.

There was no new weapon, Kit reported, just a number of Separatist frigates, but the strange thing was their attack pattern. They knew every move that the fleet would attempt, and even stranger then that, Kit received a hologram of a cloaked figure asking for surrender or if they would like to retreat. When he refused, the cloaked figure asked again after demonstrating her (the voice being awfully feminine) skills and power. Refusing again, Kit's forces were destroyed, leaving him with nothing but a few escape pods.

They could only speculate that this strange occurrence happened only to Kit. They had nothing to suggest that this happened for the others. It seemed that Dooku had found himself a new assassin. The thought of Oriana still being alive did not even cross their minds.

* * *

Planet Ryloth had been invaded by an onslaught of Separatist forces. A heavy blockade kept Republic forces at bay as Wat Tambor headed to the planet's surface to take any and all valuables. Not long after landing, he contacted his blockade. Sitting in the captain's chair, the Neimoidian, Mar Tuuk, gave Tambor a rather smug smile as his image flickered into view.

"Captain," he said, "are you prepared?"

"Our blockade is impenetrable," replied Mar Tuuk. "When the Republic attacks, they will get quite a surprise."

"I'm counting on you, Captain," said Tambor. "We cannot allow the Republic to invade this planet."

"Don't worry," said a figure in the shadows as it stepped out into the light. "Even if he fails," a pair of dark eyes flashed beneath the shade of the hood, "I won't."

Tuuk turned to the mysterious stranger. "What do you mean, 'even if he fails'?" he asked after Tambor's image faded. "Are you implying that _I_ will fail?"

"Anything is possible," she said rather sneeringly. "It all depends on who we will be facing."

Before long, the Republic indeed make an effort to defend their planet. Several Republic Cruisers came out of hyperspace, ready for battle. Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, were aboard. Their orders were make a path for Obi-Wan and his fleet to get to the surface and rescue Ryloth's dying people from the Separatist invasion.

A squadron of fighters were released and headed for the blockade. "Launch all fighters!" ordered Tuuk. The cloaked figure stood next to his seat, looking out through the window at the oncoming fighters.

"There's a Jedi among them," she said. "We must not get overconfident."

"I think we can handle anything they throw at us," said Tuuk.

"I will not underestimate them," she said forcefully.

"Sir!" exclaimed one of the few battle droids in the room. "Their fighters are closing in."

"Patience," said Tuuk. "I'd like to see what trickery the Jedi have planned for us."

"I'm not in the mood for any of your games, Captain!" shouted the cloaked girl. "This particular fleet is merely trying to create a clear passage for the invasion fleet, and they are undoubtedly not far behind."

"Sir!" exclaimed another droid. "Another squadron of fighters is attacking. They have a clear path right to us."

"Time to call in for reinforcements," said Tuuk with a sly grin. "You see, Miss Lilith? Everything is just fine."

"So you think," replied Lilith. "Things are not always as they seem."

"Battle cruiser 17, Battle cruiser 19, attack position." Four more ships joined them instantly, ready for the assault. The vulture droids and the frigates had the Republics fighters surrounded. Lilith watched in compelled silence.

_'Come on, Ahsoka, go back!'_

The fighters retreated as the Separatist vulture droids were attacking the Republic cruisers and breaking their lines. The Republic's forces were forced into retreat. Lilith knew, however, that they wouldn't be gone for very long.

"Shall we pursue, Miss Lilith?" asked Tuuk.

"No," she replied. "They'll be back, and with a plan. We're dealing with Jedi. Give me a scan of their damage, I need to think about what they're going to try to do." She removed her hood to reveal short auburn hair and a very lithe and feminine body. She was wearing a black tank top with a deep square neckline and long sleeves, as though she were hiding her arms. She wore leather jeans and knee high boots.

"Do you know this Jedi?"

"Yes, and there are two of them," she replied. "Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, their methods are normally unorthodox."

"What do you think their plan of attack will be when they return?"

"That's why I need a damage report on their fleet. I need to know what they have to work with."

Tambor's blue image flickered into view on the holotable. "What is the status of the enemy attack?" he asked Tuuk.

"The Jedi were crushed of course," he replied. "They fled the system, their ships in flames. I assure you both Admiral and Assassin Lilith that our blockade is very much intact and impenetrable."

"You are concerned, Assassin?" asked Tambor, his image turning to her.

"I am," she replied, looking back at him. "This is Anakin and Ahsoka we are facing. There is no doubt they'll return."

"Mistress," said a battle droid. "We managed to get a scan of the cruisers before they left."

"Good."

"They lost a whole cruiser and an entire squadron, there was severe damage to the second cruiser, but the last was virtually unharmed."

Lilith made no response. She was silently trying to come up with the same plan that Skywalker would not fail to produce. The problem was that Anakin was very unpredictable, and his plans were far from orthodox.

"Well, if I know Anakin," she thought aloud, "He'd be stupid enough to send the damaged cruiser straight into the blockade." She had to resist comically slapping her face into her hand. "That's exactly what he's going to do."

"You really think he's that foolish," asked Tuuk.

"Foolish? It's brilliant," said Lilith. "The only way to stop it would be to get on board and changing it's course. Boosting the engines and getting off the ship moments before impact." She looked at their positions on the holotable. "He's going to send the ship into the blockade. His second ship will come in for the attack on the frigates."

"How do you think they'll attack the rest of the fleet?" asked Tambor

Lilith shook her head. "Don't know, but, in any case, be prepared to move this ship out of the cruiser's way."

"Aren't you going to try to redirect it?"

"I'll try, but that doesn't guarantee anything."

"How can you be so sure that he's going to do what you are proposing?" asked Tuuk.

"Call it intuition," said Lilith. "What a more perfect plan since they're outnumbered. Even if we were to blow it up, it would still be hazardous. Flaming pieces of debris would be more dangerous for this blockade than two thousand cannons. If you want to wait and see what happens, be my guest, but I'm going to try to board the cruiser. Alert me when he comes out of hyperspace."

Lilith snatched up her cloak and made a beeline for her ship. This would probably endanger her identity, and Dooku had warned her that if anyone found out about her, she would have to die. She had readily agreed that she would willing be put to death if it came to that. If she came in contact with Skywalker, she would have to kill him...

...if he recognized her.

* * *

Much to everyone's surprise, or expectations, Anakin did not fail to do what Lilith predicted. He appeared in his single Republic cruiser. Scans indicated that there were no life forms aboard. Everything Lilith had said, Anakin was executing perfectly. With no one else aboard, it was certain that sneaking aboard and putting it off course or simply stopping it would be easy so long as Anakin could be taken care of.

Lilith boarded her fighter and flew out to meet the cruiser when she received a transmission from Tuuk. "We're getting a transmission from the enemy ship."

"Go ahead," she replied. "Let me hear everything."

"Greeting Captain," said the familiar voice. "I'm Anakin Skywalker. General of the Grand Army of the-"

"I know who you are, Skywalker," replied Tuuk. "I've heard plenty about you from a colleague of mine."

"Well, my reputation precedes me then," Anakin responded. Lilith could hear the smirk in his voice. "I've been ordered to surrender myself the entire crew of this vessel and my ship, in exchange for safe passage for food, water, and medical supplies to the people of Ryloth."

"A noble gesture, Jedi, and your capture would make me the envy of the Separatist Fleet."

Well, if the plan wasn't obvious before, it sure was now. The transmission cut, and Lilith was currently leaving the blockade. "Subtlety never was one of your strong points, Skywalker," she said with a smirk of her own.

Aboard the Republic Cruiser, Anakin received another transmission. A hologram of a figure in a hooded cloak appeared as a blue image. He could see the person was sitting in a space craft, possibly a small one, but all he could make out were human hands and the person's mouth and nose.

"Thank you, General Skywalker, for your noble gesture," said a very feminine voice. "I'll be coming aboard to take over your vessel before it crashes into our blockade."

Anakin eyes widened in realization. They were onto them, but they couldn't stop now, Ahsoka and the other cruiser were already there to begin the attack. He quickly cut off his communications with the Separatist fleet and got a hold of Ahsoka.

"Master, what are you doing?" she cried. "Get off the ship."

"I can't," he replied. "They're sending someone to take control of the ship. They're on to us, Ahsoka."

"Should we abort the mission?" asked Admiral Yularen.

"No, I'm going to stay aboard as long as I can until I can get this person off," he said. "I'll let you know when to come pick me up."

"Master! What if you can't get off?" asked Ahsoka.

"Then I can't get off," said Anakin, "and you have to take over completely, Ahsoka."

"But Master, I-"

"No more arguments," said Anakin. "She's boarding now." With that, the com was cut. Lilith was indeed boarding the Republic cruiser. Anakin didn't bother to hide himself as she deliberately made it obvious she was seeking him out using the Force.

"Artoo, boost the engines," he ordered. The door to the bridge opened revealing the assassin. Anakin turned, pulling out his light saber. A slender hand pulled out a red blade. "Who are you?"

She didn't reply, nor did she remove the hood to reveal her face. She quickly took the offensive, leaving no room for Anakin to make any escape. He defended, but was nearly overwhelmed by the sheer number of blows his enemy was delivering. He tried to focus on following the flow of the Force to guide his actions and reactions.

He finally managed to get onto the offensive, forcing his opponent to back off and defend. He forced pushed her into one of the control panels. Her hood fell off from the impact, revealing dark auburn hair and a pair of deep brown eyes. For a split second, a familiar name and face flashed in his mind's eye.

"Who are you?" he asked again as his eyes narrowed in concentration. She looked at him, her eyes empty. There was no anger at being overcome, nor was there any contempt for his existence. He could see that in her eyes, he was not an obstacle constantly getting in her way. She saw him as a person.

"My name is Lilith," she said lifting her hand. Anakin thought she was going to force push him as he had done to her. All he saw was a blue flash and a very familiar pain coursing through his nerves. This was force lightning. Something he had only seen and experienced Count Dooku do. Unlike that time against the distinguished Count, however, this was stronger, more painful. Darkness closed in around his vision, and for a moment, he thought he heard her say something.

As Anakin lay on the floor, Lilith turned to the Artoo unit. "Did you boost the engines?" she asked. The small droid gave a small squeal of affirmation. "Good," she said as she bent over and checked Anakin's pulse. With a small smile, she picked him up and began carrying him to an escape pod. "Come on, Artoo," she said to the droid. "This ship's going to crash into that blockade any minute now. I don't think you want to stay here when that happens."

Artoo followed her down the hall in what was probably a very stunned silence. Then, as she put Anakin in the escape pod, Artoo exploded into a flurry of excited clicks and whirls. Lilith turned to Artoo and put her finger to her lips in a gesture of silence. She moved to allow the droid into the pod. Artoo clicked and whirled at her as it parked itself at the entrance.

"Sh..." she said quietly. "Don't tell anyone okay? No one else knows I'm still alive. I'm going to save the Galaxy. Now don't tell anyone, not even Anakin."

Artoo was silent momentarily before clicking in assent. The little droid stored the file memory away, never to be seen again.

* * *

"Captain Tuuk," she said as soon as she was back in her ship was leaving the cruiser. "I couldn't redirect the ship. Skywalker had the course locked and he got away before I could get to him."

"You said you wouldn't fail!" shouted Tuuk.

"Guess there's a first time for everything," she said with a smirk on her face as she cut the com and made the jump for the surface of the planet. Meanwhile, in the pod, Anakin slowly woke up to Ahsoka's voice urgently calling him.

"Master! Can you hear me? Please answer!" Anakin shook his head and got in his seat to take over from Artoo.

"I can hear you Ahsoka," he said.

"Oh, good," he could hear the relief in her voice. "Stand by for retrieval."

"What happened?" asked Anakin before turning to the droid. "What did happen, Artoo? Why am I not dead? Wasn't she trying to kill me? Why would she help me escape? Who is she?"

Artoo was silent. He knew very well what had happened and who this mystery person was, but he had been told not to tell, and that was just what he was going to do.

"Guess you don't know either, huh," said Anakin. Ahsoka's cruiser came up to the rest of the blockade and turned the belly of the ship towards them, reverting all power to the shields. It took a moment, but the droids took the bait and attacked the cruiser. They were quickly outflanked by Ahsoka's fighters, and Anakin waited patiently to be picked up while he watched the fireworks.

Several more Republic Cruisers came out of Hyperspace. Obi-Wan and Mace had arrived for a ground assault. Ahsoka, in her fighter, received a transmission from Obi-Wan.

"Ahsoka, this is Obi-Wan," he said. "May we begin our landing?"

"Yes, Master," she replied. "You're cleared for ground assault."

"I won't even ask where the rest of Anakin's fleet is," he said with a hint of exasperation, "or why he's in an escape pod."

"That's... probably for the best," Ahsoka agreed. "Rex, that reminds me, send a shuttle to pick up Master Skywalker."

Back in his pod, Anakin watched as a shuttle flew overhead. Rex's voice came over the transmitter. "General, you still there?"

"Yep! Just enjoying the show!" he said a little too cheerfully. He was still concerned over what had happened onboard the ship. Another of Dooku's lackeys was out and about, but she, unlike Ventress or Grievous, knew how to use Force-lightning. This was a problem.

* * *

Obi-Wan was the first to land, followed closely by Mace Windu. It didn't take long for Obi-Wan to take control of the southern hemisphere, but the only way for the Republic to take the planet back was to take the planet's capital. That was where things got complicated. Wat Tambor had it well occupied. In the depths of the city, Wat Tambor and Dooku's new assassin, Lilith, were protected by walls of sheer rock and a moat several hundred meters deep. The only way across was a plasma bridge.

The Republic was making remarkable progress. Of course, only Lilith found it remarkable. "The Republic is advancing faster than I expected," said Tambor. "Of course, they wouldn't be advancing if you hadn't failed protecting the blockade."

Lilith glared at him, but said nothing. "I calculate they will reach the main gates by morning," said one of the commanding droids. "I suggest we prepare a retreat."

"I will not retreat," said Tambor. "That Jedi does not have the troops to take this city. Bring our units inside the walls and secure the bridge." As the droid did what was ordered of it, Lilith circled around the holotable, removing her hood to look Tambor in the face.

"Mace Windu may not have the troops, but he has more then enough skills," she said. "Do _not _underestimate him. If you don't prepare for a retreat soon, I will be forced to contact my Master."

"I already told you, I will not retreat," replied Tambor. "Why should I have to suffer embarrassment for your mistakes?"

"You have been warned," she said. "If you think for a moment I will fight Mace Windu, you've got another thing coming. I'm good, but not that good."

* * *

"Your tactical droid and my apprentice have informed me of the pitiful job you have done protecting our investments on Ryloth," said Count Dooku. His blue image on the holotable looked momentarily at Lilith who was standing silently near the wall.

"It's not my fault," shouted Tambor. "Your apprentice failed to protect the blockade. None of this would be happening if she had done what she had promised!"

"The fact that she failed does not excuse your pitiful attempts to correct her mistakes," said Dooku.

"Besides," said Wat, "the droid and your apprentice exaggerate! I have not lost yet!"

"You are no match for Master Windu," said Dooku, "and my apprentice has come a long way from what she was, but she is no match for him either. Take what valuables you can and destroy everything else."

"Everything?"

"We can put this defeat to political use," said Dooku. "The charred ruins of Ryloth will demonstrate to the galaxy the cost of a... Republic victory..." As he spoke, an evil grin spread across his face, and his eyes flashed momentarily.

"As you wish," said Tambor.

* * *

Battle droids were carefully loading Tambor's spoils onto his personal craft. Lilith stood back and watched as load after load was placed into the ship. "Is this all of it?" Tambor asked one of the battle droids.

"We're still waiting awaiting two transports from our southern base. Should we depart without them?"

"No," said Tambor. "I will have every valuable on this rock before I leave."

Lilith shook her head as the tactical droid held out a holocom. Once again, Dooku was making contact, and Lilith made certain to stay out of view. "Tambor," he said. "Why haven't you evacuated?"

"Our exit strategy is taking more time to implement," Tambor lied. Lilith shook her head at the Skakoan's foolishness.

"I want you out of the city before the Republic arrives," said Dooku, his rage growing with every word. "Once Master Windu has invaded the capital," he turned to the tactical droid, "we'll bomb it from afar. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Count Dooku," said the droid.

"You will not do anything until I give the order," said Tambor after Dooku's image disappeared.

"It is not wise to disobey my master," said Lilith. "You should leave immediately."

"I will not! I _will_ have everything this rock has to offer," said Tambor.

* * *

Lilith sat patiently in the cockpit of the ship, waiting for the tactical droid to return. Tambor was still refusing to leave Ryloth. She hated such greedy creatures, and she wondered briefly why Dooku even bothered with them.

When the droid did return, Tambor was not with it. "Where's Tambor?" she asked.

"He refused to leave," it said.

"Ah well, sucks for him," she said as she prepared to leave. She could almost see the surprise look on Tambor's face.

The tactical droid made contact once again with Count Dooku. This time, Lilith could not avoid it.

"I'm afraid Tambor refused to retreat in time," said the droid.

"That is... unfortunate," said Dooku. "Lilith, since you are now in charge here, order our bombers to destroy the capital immediately."

"Yes master," she replied.

"And..." said Dooku. "Return to Serenno. We have much to discuss."

* * *

Lilith made it back to Serenno. The moment the Republic had broken through the blockade, the battle was over. Of course, she would have to explain everything to Dooku, but she found exploiting his plots to be a lot of fun. This would have to be the last time, however. Anymore and he would probably start getting suspicious.

"Welcome home, Miss Lilith," said Edmund as she climbed out of her ship. "Is there anything we can do for you?"

"Yeah," she said forcefully. "Let me know when Dooku arrives."

"I'm afraid he's already here," he replied.

"Good, then he should already know I'm here," she said angrily. "If he asks, tell him I'm in my room." She marched off towards her room, silently praying that he would just leave her alone. She knew, however, how that was not going to happen any time soon. If there was something he wanted to talk to her about, no doubt he would.

"Oh, Lilith, you're back," said Amethyst as she entered the room. Lilith looked at the older woman who was just smoothing out the wrinkles in her bed. Lilith narrowed her eyes.

"Get out," she ordered.

"Yes ma'am," said Amethyst. Lilith felt guilt assault her feelings. Amethyst didn't deserve being treated that way, but Lilith felt so much angrier lately. It was the dark side, Dooku, the Republic, and the entire Galaxy.

As soon as the older woman was out of the room, Lilith slammed the door behind her. She sat down on her bed before letting go of her emotions. Tears poured down her face as they did every time she came back from one of her missions. She hated doing such dirty work, and most of the time Dooku was right there breathing down her neck. It wasn't until she battled Kit Fisto that she was free of Dooku. She had let Master Fisto live because no one had been there to tell her to kill them. She erased the memories of all the droids, as she did after every mission. Dooku gave her that luxury at least.

How long would that last?

She felt the dark side touch her, sending shivers down her spine. Dooku was coming, and he wanted her to know it. She hated him. With all of her Force-forsaken heart, she hated him. There was nothing she could do, at this point, to be entirely free of him now. He knew it, and he took great pleasure in that stupid fact.

The door opened, revealing the stuff of her nightmares. She glared at him, unable to do much else. Dooku merely smirked at her rage.

"Welcome home," he said smugly.

"This isn't my home," she said angrily.

"It might as well be," he replied. "You came running back here after your failure on Ryloth, despite the fact that I might or might not be here waiting for you."

"Where else would I go?" she snapped. "Coruscant?"

"That's why I said, 'It might as well be,'" he repeated. "So, how should I punish you? Not only for your failure on Ryloth, but for your failure to kill Kit Fisto."

"Let me guess," she said angrily. "Your Master told you."

Dooku's smirk turned into a frown quickly. Before she knew it, he was next to her, his hand barely touching her throat. She let out a gasp in fear as he lowered his face to hers. His eyes burned into her's, trying to look for something inside her, or so it felt. She tried to back away only to be held in place as the hand that was hovering over her throat grabbed her chin, forcing her to continue to stare into his cold dark eyes.

"So," he said again. "How should I punish you? Perhaps another lesson on the dark side?"

"No..." she murmured, almost daring to struggle against his grip.

"Then what?" he asked again, bringing his face closer. She felt tears well up, and in her desperation to hold them back, she shut her eyes as tight as she could.

"Wh-whatever you want," she whispered. "Just... please... let me go..."

Dooku felt a smirk return. "Let you go, but Oriana, I thought we had something special."

Her eyes shot open at the mention of her real name. He would be the only one who would ever call her that from now on. It was heartbreaking to think about.

"Don't call me that," she hissed.

"Why not, Oriana?" he asked. "It's like our little secret."

"You killed Oriana," she said angrily. "There's only Lilith now."

"What a shame," he said in mock regret. "I actually kind of liked her." Much to her relief, Dooku looked down in what she was wearing. A frown replacing the smirk. "What have I told you about wearing long sleeves?"

Now she tried to wrestle herself free from his grip. He released her only to grab one of the sleeves at the shoulder before ripping it off. Inhaling sharply, she retracted herself from him. There were burn scars covering her arms. She gently rubbed at them as she glared at him.

"What was that for?" she asked indignantly.

"I don't want to see you wearing long sleeves again," he said angrily. "Meet me outside in ten minutes. It's time for another lesson." He stormed out of her room taking the ripped sleeve with him.

Lilith, or Oriana, watched him leave, very confused and vulnerable, but all the more angry at her vulnerability. She hated this about herself. She was so weak around him. She couldn't stand up for herself at all. She hadn't been very good at that before, but this went beyond her inability. She was being oppressed, tortured, by him, and he enjoyed it.

* * *

"What is it, Skywalker?" asked Mace after reports had been given. Anakin had been a little fidgety during the meeting. Well, fidgety for a Jedi, any normal sentient being would have seen a perfectly still Jedi Knight.

"Something happened while we were trying to break through the blockade," he began.

"We're all ears, Anakin," said Obi-Wan.

"I ran into Dooku's new assassin," he said. "She knew what I was planning before I even started."

"So it is a she?" asked Mace.

"Oh yeah, and she's human," said Anakin. "The thing is, she used Force lightning to knock me out. The next thing I know, I'm on an escape pod, and my droid who was with me doesn't recall anything."

"This is intriguing," said Mace.

"Unlike the wielders of the dark side, this is," said Yoda.

"So, is she on our side?" asked Ahsoka.

"Don't know," said Anakin. "She had a chance to kill me, but she didn't. Plus she didn't even change the course of the ship. She just let it breach their blockade like that."

"Let us keep this between ourselves," said Mace. "We don't want Dooku's spies to find out about this."

"Did you get a good look at her, Anakin?" asked Obi-Wan, something begging for it to be Oriana.

"I did," he replied.

"What did she look like?"

"She had dark auburn hair and dark brown eyes," he said. "She was a little shorter then me."

"Let's keep our eyes open for her," said Mace. "There's more to this then meets the eye. Chances are, her mercy has probably ended by now, so don't expect her to show mercy when she catches you."

"Agree with you, I do," said Yoda. "Capture her, we must."

* * *

**Well, here's the next chapter. I lied last chapter... I really tried to make it work with the whole trial and stuff, but it just wasn't flowing... So yeah, sue me...**

**Current vote**

**Dooku: 3 (a very original idea, and not entirely out there, I am a fan. It's just unusual... that's all. Definitely a strange twist)**

**Obi-Wan: 2 (not exactly original, but workable. Who doesn't like Obi-Wan, right?)**

**Anakin: 1 (You're kidding, right? It's not that I'm not a fan of Anakin... which I'm not really... but... doesn't he have Padme?)**

**Cody: 1 (Interesting...)**

**Oriana's former master returned from the "dead": 1 (What?)**

**If you haven't voted yet, please do so, especially if you want to change the odds.**

**Lilith: In Jewish folklore she is a vampirelike child-killer and the symbol of sensual lust. Of the various legends connected with her, the one making her Adam's first wife is the strongest. **


	8. The Deserter

**I have NO excuse save for this: I got stuck... that's it. My most sincere apologies, but yeah... anyway, this chapter is going to get slightly mushy... Okay, really mushy, so brace yourselves, all right?**

* * *

_For everything you gain, you lose something else..._

She was sitting down in the command ship when the attack began. Lilith listened and watched as orders were being given and carried out. Grievous was ecstatic by the progress they were making. Lilith herself had been surprised at how easily the Separatists had gotten through their defences.

However, her mind was not on the battle at hand. Far from it, after her failure on Ryloth, she had been forbidden by Count Dooku to leave Serenno. It had been several months of torture as he would take all his anger out on her when his forces failed not only on Dorin, but after Geonosia was taken. She would merely take the punishment, especially after she learned more about him from Amethyst.

Amethyst had heard of a time while Dooku had still been a Jedi. Dooku undertook a mission to Galidraan. An emergency call for aid by Galidraan's governer against a Mandalorian Invasion prompted by a swift but ill-prepared Jedi response. Dooku was the senior Jedi Master of the twenty Jedi thrown together for the task force. Unlike most of his companions, he had someknowledge of the enemy they were facing.

In short, it had been disastrous and Dooku found that the Jedi had been manipulated. That knowledge alone made Lilith realize that he once believed in the principles she held dearly. It also proved to her how easily the Jedi could be manipulated to do things that would only further the agenda of the Dark Side.

Now, it was obvious that all Jedi, including herself, were being manipulated into believing that they were all fighting for the right cause, when in reality, there was no right cause. At this point, Lilith only wanted to get closer to Dooku so that she could understand him better and earn his trust entirely.

General Grievous approached her, taking her out of her reverie. "We are boarding the command ship where undoubtedly a Jedi will be waiting for us."

"It's about time," she said with a yawn. "I was beginning to get bored."

"Stand by," said Eeth Koth as he and his men surrounded the holotable. "Grievous is boarding." A few dialed clicks and the battle lit up on the holotable. The Captain and his men were putting up a good fight, but it was a losing battle. "Status report."

"There's too many of them!" shouted the captain.

"Get yourselves to the escape pods," ordered Koth. "I will deal with Grievous here."

"But sir! They're commando droids!"

"That does not matter captain," replied Koth. "Now go!" The images faded just as something metal slammed into the door. The few clones with Koth tried to find some defensible positions as Koth pulled out his light saber.

As they waited, it became apparent that their opponent had at least one saber of his own as he carved a perfect circle into the blaster doors. Once it was finished Koth ducked just in time as the carved piece of metal flew out, crushing everything in it's path. In stepped General Grievous, and a heavily shaded character behind him followed.

"Jedi..." said a mechanical menacing voice from the Separatist General.

"Grievous..." Koth replied. The General gave a maniacal laugh before moving to the side to allow his commando droids to take care of the clones. The clones didn't have time to react before the commandos managed to take all but one of them out. One droid shot at Koth, who deflected the blasts efficiently. Another was blasted down by it's own fire. While two distracted Koth, swiping at him with blades while dodging his saber, one of them wasn't so lucky, the last commando droid with a blaster managed to get a good shot at his elbow, temporarily disarming him. The droid with a blade pulled Koth into a headlock while the other took aim.

One of the clones who was still alive stood up and shot the commando droid holding the blaster in the head, giving Koth time to step up onto the holotable, wrenching free from the droid and jumping over the droid before summoning his light saber. A quick slice through the torso and a stab in the droids head, and the fight was over... at least, part one was.

The clone that had shot the first droid was stabbed unexpectedly by one of Grievous's Magna Guards. The shaded figure just stood there, watching the fight escalate. There was no escape for Koth. The guards surrounded Koth as Grievous jumped up onto the holotable.

"Eeth Koth, isn't it?" said Grievous. "I've been looking forward to meeting you."

"You're reputation precedes you, General," said Koth. "The reputation as a coward, and a murderer."

"Murderer?" said Grievous as indignantly as a mechanized voice could be. "Is it murder to rid the Galaxy of you Jedi filth?" Grievous pulled out two light sabers, one green, one blue, before kicking Koth back.

Lilith, who had been cloaked and quiet, continued her silence as she watched the fight between Grievous and Eeth Koth, which, she found, was only slightly less boring the fight going on outside. With Koth's injury, and the Magna Guards there to keep Koth from trying to escape, the fight was over before it began.

Grievous raised his saber to kill Koth when Lilith finally stepped in. "Wait, Grievous." The General paused momentarily as he looked over at her.

"What is it, Assassin?" asked Grievous with a menacing hiss.

"Don't you think this victory was won a little too easily?"

"Easily? You thought this was easy?"

"I never said I thought it was easy, I asked if you thought so," she said.

"Are you suggesting something?" asked Grievous.

"Instead of killing him, we could use him," said Lilith.

Grievous was silently mulling it over. "What do you propose we do?"

Lilith removed the hood shading her face before turning to the General, a wicked smirk spread across her face. "Let's have a little fun and send out a message to the Jedi council. We have one of their comrades, and there is no doubt they will come running for him."

"Count Dooku has taught you well," said Grievous. Lilith just smiled.

* * *

The Jedi Temple was virtually empty with only a few younglings being gently cared for by the few Jedi who were unable to fight in the Outer Rim and a few Jedi who had just returned from the Outer Rim to report to the council. Earlier that day, a message had been received via transmission, a prerecorded message from General Grievous.

"Greetings Jedi," said his mechanized voice. "It would seem, once again, one of your Order has lost his way, and even better, a member of your Jedi Council." Yoda and Mace glanced momentarily at each other before watching more of the message. "Listen to me, Jedi, I do not care about your politics. I do not care about your... Republic. I only live to see you die."

Grievous ruthlessly threw Koth onto the floor as one of his MagnaGuards came up to stab the Jedi Master with an electrostaff. The younglings and padawans who were present tried to look away as one of their beloved Masters was tortured. "But, death will not come so easily for Master Koth," continued Grievous. "I will make him suffer endlessly because I know that is more painful for you all."

The image faded, leaving several stunned Jedi in it's wake. Most of them were wondering the same thing Anakin was thinking. Who would stop this monstrosity? Yoda let out a small sigh before turning to the younglings still in the room.

"Away with the young ones," he said to them. "Much there is to discuss." The Masters watched as the younger generation left the room silently. It was a shame that they had to see that.

"It's time somebody finally put an end to that monster," said Anakin with a hint of anger in his voice.

"On that agreed we are," said Yoda. "How to find him the question remains."

"After engaging Grievous, we lost contact with Master Koth," said Obi-Wan. "He could be anywhere."

"Commander Wolf has found a message in the holotransmission," said Master Plo Koon as his commander stood by him. The message was rewound and played again, and this time, the Jedi watched for any anomalies within the transmission.

"Look! Hand signals," said Anakin. Koth was relaying to them his position. Anakin looked to Obi-Wan who was very good at reading them.

"I admit my skills are a bit rusty, but..." Obi-Wan bent down to get a better look. "Saleucami system, sector J19-080529."

"Saleucami?" said Adi Gallia. "But intelligence reported Grievous has no ships near that sector."

"Yes," agreed Yoda. "But so often inaccurate our intelligence is."

"I shall go," said Obi-Wan, stepping forward.

"So will I," said Anakin.

"And I," said Adi.

It didn't take them long to get a fleet together. Three cruisers and four escorts were to be sent off while one smaller vehicle stayed behind. Obi-Wan was on the leading cruiser. He and Commander Cody were preparing to make the jump to hyperspace when they made contact with Anakin and Adi.

"Are you ready?" asked Obi-Wan.

"Ready and waiting," said Anakin.

"I shall engage the Separatist ship," said Obi-Wan, "and send you the coordinates of Grievous' command ship."

"Just make sure you get it right," said Anakin.

"I always do," replied Obi-Wan.

"How do plan on getting Grievous aboard your ship?" asked Master Gallia.

"Not to worry," replied Obi-Wan. "The good general and I have a history. I'm sure he'll want to even the score face to face."

"Meanwhile, we'll jump in undetected and board the command ship," said Anakin.

"If Master Koth is alive, we will find him," said Adi decidedly.

"Hopefully, by the end of this mission, we will have saved Master Koth and captured General Grievous," said Obi-Wan. The transmission ended just as Anakin and Master Adi watched as the fleet made the jump to hyperspace.

* * *

General Grievous paced quietly through the bridge, the only noise being the sound of his metallic feet tapping against the cold metal floor. Lilith stood next to Koth who was suspended by a force field that prevented him from using his powers to escape or do harm to his captors.

"Sir," said the tactical droid to General Grievous, "we have entered the Saleucami system."

"Begin preparations for our landing," ordered Grievous.

"Yes, my lord," said the droid. Lilith, who was staring out the view port, suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. Someone very familiar was coming.

"Uh... Sir... There are several ships coming out of hyperspace," said one of the battle droids and the controls.

"Are they Republic or Separatist?" asked Grievous.

"They're Republic," said Lilith. As soon as she said that, seven enemy ships appeared.

"Republic, three cruiser class, four escort class," said the battle droid.

"It's Obi-Wan," said Lilith. "I know it is."

"You see?" said General Grievous to Master Koth. "Your compassionate friends have come to rescue you. Just as I knew they would." The four escorts suddenly left the three cruisers.

"One of the Republic ships is hailing us, my lord," said the tactical droid.

"Put him through," said Grievous. Lilith quietly stepped to the side so that the transmission would not put her through.

Obi-Wan Kenobi appeared on the screen. Just as Lilith had thought, he was leading the rescue mission. "General," said Kenobi. "I knew one day I'd catch up with you."

"Kenobi," said Grievous. "What a surprise! I assume you are here to bring me to justice."

"You know me too well," replied Obi-Wan.

"Indeed I do," with that, the transmission was cut. "Prepare to fire all cannons, and be alert, where there is Kenobi, you will always find Skywalker not far behind."

"The enemy ships are faster and more maneuverable," said the tactical droid. "I suggest caution."

"Draw them in," said Grievous. "I want to board that vessel. I shall kill Kenobi face to face."

"I'm afraid not, General," said Lilith. "I will face Kenobi."

"And why you?" asked Grievous.

"They will not be expecting me," said Lilith. "Skywalker will try to rescue Master Koth here, and I can assure you, Skywalker will be a lot more fun to kill than Kenobi. There's so much arrogance to be cut down."

Grievous was silent once more. "Very well," he agreed. "Perhaps we will do this your way, but do not expect me to come to your rescue if you get captured."

"Trust me, I won't."

Laser fire lit up between the frigates and the Republic escorts. The cruisers began to move it for their attack. Lilith immediately took control from Grievous.

"Get me a tractor beam locked on Kenobi's ship and prepare a boarding party," she ordered.

On the escort, Obi-Wan and his men prepared for Grievous' arrival. "Remember, we need to keep Grievous on this ship until General Skywalker is clear," said Obi-Wan to Cody. As soon as they were attached, they saw one light saber cut a perfect circle into the blast doors.

"Wait," said Obi-Wan. "Something's not right."

The hole burst open as commando droids were the first thing to get through. The shot down several of Obi-Wan's men before a hooded figure followed by two MagnaGuards entered the blast doors.

"Expecting somebody else boys?" said Lilith as she threw back her hood.

"Well, I was hoping for Grievous," said Obi-Wan as he backed away from the magna guards.

"Sorry," she said casually as her red blade lit up in her hand. "I'm afraid he's a little busy killing General Skywalker."

* * *

Anakin and Adi boarded Grievous' command ship. As soon as they were on board, they began looking for Master Koth who was located on the bridge. They met little resistance on their way there, which they should have found unusual, but when they arrived, they found the reason their attempt had been so successful thus far.

"Welcome, Jedi," said Grievous. "Especially you, Skywalker."

"General Grievous," said Anakin. Inwardly, he was wondering why the general was still aboard the ship. Several droids, commando droids, jumped out from behind the control panels. Anakin and Adi quickly found themselves surrounded. "Well, at least they're not destroyer droids."

"It would seem that the tables have turned," said Grievous. "Perhaps it was a good thing Lilith went on to board General Kenobi's ship. Now, I have three Jedi to kill."

* * *

Lilith and Obi-Wan fought all the way to the control room. Lilith didn't let him take a moment to rest, knowing full well that her energy levels exceeded his seeing how she was somewhat younger. He would tire out long before she did, especially if she kept up her relentless pursuit. Even with the aid of the Force, Jedi could only hold out for so long. However, her offensive didn't last long. As good as she was at light saber techniques, Obi-Wan far outstripped her in skills, and she quickly found herself defending.

"You wouldn't happen to be Lilith, would you now?" asked Obi-Wan.

"Maybe," she replied. "Maybe not."

"Well, if you are, I have a question for you," said Obi-Wan.

"And what would that be?" she asked in return.

"When you fought Anakin over the planet Ryloth, why didn't you kill him?" he asked. "I know of the Sith, and I can tell you from experience, they are not merciful group."

"How I accomplish my goals is none of you concern, Kenobi," she replied angrily. "I suggest you focus less on the past, and more on the present."

* * *

General Grievous held up a remote and pressed a button. Master Koth suddenly cried out as volts of electricity were sent through his body. Anakin clenched his light saber in his hand. It was just like the general to sink so low.

"One more step and your Jedi friend here will die," said Grievous. He laughed maniacally at having won this little bout. Two more of his hands extended, pulling out light sabers with them.

Anakin and Adi tightened their grips on their light sabers. The fight just got ten times more difficult.

* * *

Grievous watched as Adi and Anakin fought for their lives against his commando droids. He found he was not surprised when they managed to defeat them all. However, the fight had been far from won as soon as Grievous joined the fight. Fighting two Jedi, however, proved to be more difficult as both of them could use the Force to knock him off balance.

The ship suddenly lurched as the Republic cruisers began firing at the command ship. Obi-Wan had ordered that if it took them more then fifteen minutes to do the job, that Admiral Yularen begin firing at Grievous' ship.

"Sir," said a somehow still surviving battle droid. "The ship's taken extensive damage. Then engines have completely shut down. Should we retreat to the planet?"

"It would seem our fight has been cut a little short," said Grievous.

"If you really think you're going anywhere, you better think again," said Anakin. Grievous didn't respond. He kicked Anakin straight in the chest causing him to go careening back into one of the control panels, giving Grievous opening for an escape.

Adi did not bother going after Grievous. Their mission was to save Master Koth. They had failed to capture Grievous the moment they had started. They knew their plan from the beginning. How that was even possible eluded Master Gallia, but Anakin knew. He knew perfectly well that Lilith was somewhere either on Obi-Wan's ship or on Grievous' command ship.

Master Gallia deactivated the force field when Anakin received a call from Obi-Wan.

"As I am sure you are aware," said Obi-Wan. "Grievous did not board my ship, but Lilith did. She's headed back for the command ship so I hope you've rescued Master Koth."

"You both go," said Master Koth as both Gallia and Anakin held him upright. "I'll make it back. I'll be fine."

"I'll have to disagree with you on that one," said Anakin. "Master Gallia, you go ahead. I'll get Eeth back to the shuttle."

"May the Force be with you," said Adi.

* * *

Obi-Wan ran down the halls towards the bridge when he met up with some of his men. "Get back to the bridge," he ordered them. "We need to detach before Lilith jumps ship." They nodded in understanding before running back for the bridge. Obi-Wan quickly turned and headed for where the ship was attached to the Command ship.

"Cody!" called Obi-Wan. "Come in."

"Yes sir!"

"Lilith is headed your way," he warned. The clones all got into a defensive position as they heard Lilith's boots clamor loudly against the metal floor. As soon as she turned the corner, they fired at her only to have their blaster fire be blocked by her saber and then be thrown back by the Force. She dashed passed them and made it through the blast doors.

Obi-Wan followed in pursuit. She had made it just passed the blast doors when Master Gallia attacked her. Lilith defended herself from both Jedi to the best of her abilities, but she was quickly finding herself outmatched. She tapped into her anger at being overwhelmed and used it to summon lightning to her fingertips, shocking both Jedi. However, instead of killing either one of them, she left them on the ground, unconscious, as she made a beeline for the her own fighter.

* * *

Commander Cody and his men managed to get Obi-Wan and Adi back onto the ship before the Separatist frigate was destroyed. The Republic escort managed to detach itself from it, moments before any damage could be done.

"Cody," said Obi-Wan as soon as he was conscious. "Get me in touch with Admiral Yularen."

"Several craft detached from Grievous' ship," said Yularen. "And attempted to land on Saleucami. There was a small fighter, but it managed to make the leap to hyperspace before we could get a tractor beam on it."

"That was probably Lilith," said Obi-Wan. "I don't sense her anymore. Grievous has to be on Saleucami. We'll have to land and follow them. Prepare the tanks."

"Master, if you're going to land, there's probably several landing sights," said Anakin. "It may be hard to locate the good General."

"You'll have to command the space battle while Rex, Cody and I head to the surface," said Obi-Wan.

"Sure you can handle this on your own?" asked Anakin.

"I think I can manage," replied Obi-Wan. The transmission ended, but Cody had something else he wanted to discuss.

"Sir," he said. "You said that girl who attacked us, her name was Lilith?"

"Yes, Cody, what about her?" asked Obi-Wan.

"Sir, I would recognize that face anywhere," said Cody. "That was Commander Oriana."

Obi-Wan's eyes widened. "How can you be sure? Oriana was executed in front of the entire Parliament of the Confederacy. She's dead."

"I don't know," said Cody. "She's died and cut her hair, but I don't think I'll ever forget her face. That _was_ Oriana, sir. I'm willing to stake my life on it."

Obi-Wan couldn't form a response for a moment.

"But why would Oriana join Count Dooku?" he asked no one in particular.

"I don't know," replied Cody. "I was hoping you would know."

* * *

Her fight with Obi-Wan went exactly as she had hoped it would. She had never fully intended on actually killing him, but it was necessary to act like she had. She merely wanted to test the waters and see if he recognized at all, and much to her relief, he didn't.

She was sure Dooku would be upset, when he found out about her little scuffle with Obi-Wan, but she was ready for that confrontation.

Looking down at the planet of Serenno after coming out of hyperspace, she muttered a curse before heading down to the surface. When she landed, Edmund was the first to greet her before she dismissed him on her way to the Count's office. No doubt by now, Dooku had heard the Republic now knew of his Force-sensitive assassin, and it was probably causing him a great deal of trouble with his master.

She stopped at the door, trying to get her feelings together and in order. She had to play the part of the submissive Sith Apprentice. She had to gain Dooku's trust. Her plan was to win Dooku by any means necessary, so that when the time came to face Darth Sidious, she could hopefully take them down. This meant that she had to do anything, and use everything...

Even her own body...

"Come in," she heard from the other side of the door.

"Master?" she whispered when she walked in and didn't see him right away. She was suddenly struck down by a full dose of Force lightning.

"Not only do you fail to kill Kit Fisto and Anakin Skywalker, but you allow yourself to be discovered by the Republic and my master, failed to defend Ryloth, and you encountered your old master, Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"He didn't recognize me!" she dried out as he continued to assault her. "I was just testing to see if he would recognize me, and he didn't!"

"And your failure to kill Fisto and Skywalker?" Dooku asked before shocking her again.

"I have no excuse for those failures, Master. They will never happen again," she said carefully.

"They sure won't," he said before shocking her again. She cried out in agony as he continued to punish her for several more minutes. "Perhaps that will teach you never to disobey my orders again."

Once she was able to catch her breath, she stood and turned to him, her movements unsteady from excess electricity running through her system. "Do you feel better?" she suddenly asked him sincerely.

He turned to look at her, his hands behind his back and suspicion laced in his gaze. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing, I suppose," she said wondering at herself as well. She began to approach him cautiously, in case he were to lash out. He did nothing, curious as to what she might do next. "I am your Sith Apprentice, yet you do not trust me."

"I do not trust anyone."

"Not even your own master, Darth Sidious?" He was surprised that she knew his master's name as he did not remember sharing it with her. "That is his name, isn't it?"

"It is, but I do not remember giving you that information," replied Dooku.

"I don't know where I heard it either," she replied with a coy smile. She finally got close enough to him to put her hands on his chest. As she did, she could feel the anger leave his body only to be replaced by something she did not recognize. It sent chills down her spine and her heat rate increased. He grabbed her hands and pulled her closer.

"I do not trust you," he growled.

"Then don't," she whispered.

"Say that you belong to me!" he demanded. She opened her eyes to look into his.

"Will you trust me if I do?"

"No."

"I am yours," she said closing her eyes again. "And only yours."

"From now on," said Dooku as he leaned in closer.

"Yes, Master."

* * *

Dooku could hardly get himself together when his Master, Darth Sidious, contacted him. He had spent most of the morning trying not to smile around his servants. He managed somehow to answer the transmission absolutely somber.

"What is this about another assassin, Tyranus?" asked Sidious.

"Just another Force-sensitive I found," he said casually as if it were nothing. "Up until recently, she really got the job done, compared to Ventress especially."

"Indeed," said Sidious suspiciously. He suddenly smiled, as though he knew something. "Very well, I would like to meet this new assassin of yours."

"Of course, master," replied Dooku.

The transmission ended, and the blue image of Sidious disappeared. Dooku was concerned by this sudden interest in Oriana, although Sidious had no idea that it was her, or so the Count hoped. Sidious had never been so interested in Ventress. However, his worry was quickly replaced as soon as Oriana walked in.

He smiled cunningly at her. "It seems we need to brush up on your training."

His smile grew as she blushed. "Yes, master."

* * *

Obi-Wan, Anakin, Adi, and Koth all returned to the Jedi Temple disheartened by the unsuccessful attempt to capture General Grievous, but only one was truly troubled by the events that had occurred in the Saleucami system. Obi-Wan was thinking only about what Commander Cody had told him. He ran over his fight with Lilith over and over again and all he could see was Oriana with red hair.

This did not give him any hope, however. This meant that somewhere along the way, she had started down the dark path, and it was always believed that no one could return from it. However, the more he thought about it, the more it didn't make any sense. How could someone like Oriana—timid, careful, sweet—ever join the dark side willingly?

"This is disturbing," said Windu when Obi-Wan told him and Yoda what had happened. "What do you think happened?"

"I'm not sure," replied Obi-Wan. "Oriana would never join the dark side willingly. Do you think it is possible she hasn't joined the dark side?"

"I doubt it," said Mace. Yoda looked thoughtful.

"I mean, she had a chance to kill Anakin, and she didn't," said Obi-Wan. "She probably faced Kit Fisto and let him live as well."

"Possible she maybe starting on the path it is," said Yoda.

"But it's not probable, not for Oriana," said Obi-Wan. "There's something missing here. Something we're not seeing. Wait, what if Count Dooku told her what he had told me at the beginning—that a Dark Lord of the Sith—is controlling the Republic and she believed him? Could he be controlling her that way?"

"Perhaps it is possible," said Mace. "If you believe it is probable, then that is probably what is going on. She is young and impressionable."

"Need proof she would," said Yoda. "Knew her once I did. Very powerful she can be, and chance she could sense the Sith there is. Careful we must be. If sense him she did, then be extra vigilant we must."

* * *

**Did you know it is really hard to write Yoda's dialogue? I only had a few sentences in there for him and I had to rewrite it three times so it didn't sound so darn annoying. And it _still_ sounds annoying!**

**Another thing, when this ends (and I'm getting _way_ ahead of myself here), this and Silver Lining (my Lord of the Rings Fanfic) is going to cross over in the sequel, but don't worry, you don't have to read to read Silver Lining to understand what's going on and none of the characters from Lord of the Rings are going to show up.**

**Well, that's it for now... finally. After, like, over half a year... Let me know what you think, if you're not too busy gagging. You can flame me too, if you like. I can take it. I hope.**


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